Building society ramps up mortgage price war with ‘gamechanging’ move, and it also cuts rates

Britain’s biggest building society is to let first-time buyers borrow up to six times their earnings in what has been labelled a “gamechanging” move that ramps up the mortgage price war.

Weeks after it was announced that the Halifax and Lloyds would allow new buyers to take out loans worth up to 5.5 times their household annual income, Nationwide said it would now go up to six times income – a first for a major high street lender.