Rightmove and Nationwide have launched a global-first real-time digital feature, which helps potential home-buyers understand if a specific property they want to view is likely to be eligible for mortgage lending.
With the new digital ‘property lending check’, homebuyers can for the first time receive real-time information about the likelihood of getting a mortgage on a home before a viewing and well ahead of the offer stage. It aims to give home-hunters more mortgage confidence, much earlier in their moving journey.
Nationwide will assess typical property risks on a listing, such as flooding, or short lease lengths, to check if they would be likely to lend on the property.
Previously, by applying for a Mortgage in Principle, a buyer could find out how much they would likely be able to borrow from a lender, but not whether the specific home they wanted to view was likely to be eligible for a mortgage.
The launch comes as part of Rightmove’s mission to digitise more of the UK property market and speed up the home-moving process and joins a suite of products and tools for people to find out how much they can borrow.
It still takes over five months on average to complete a home sale. By creating tech solutions which digitise and streamline the processes involved in buying and selling a property, Rightmove is aiming to help make the process more efficient for agents and movers.
The new feature is an addition to Rightmove’s Mortgage in Principle, which has seen a record-breaking start to the year for the number of people using it to understand their affordability much earlier in their search for a new home.
Rightmove’s Mortgage in Principle, powered by Nationwide, helps people to understand how much they are likely to be able to borrow earlier, before they go on viewings and make offers on homes.
It can help agents to identify more proceedable buyers, cut down on wasted time, and can reduce the risk of homes falling through later in the process.
Matt Smith, Rightmove’s head of mortgages, said: “This is the next step in our mission to digitise more of the UK property market – the ability to give home-movers a real-time view of whether they are likely to be able to get a mortgage on a specific property. Our ambition is to build digital solutions that make the home-buying process more efficient, giving buyers a better understanding of their affordability much earlier. This is a first rollout phase, and we’ll be making lots of enhancements to the property lending check over the coming months.”
Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s director of Home, commented: “We know that the homebuying process needs simplifying and streamlining and technology plays a crucial role in that. By working closely with Rightmove, we’ve already been able to introduce the successful Mortgage in Principle tool. However, we know that people who find a property listing they like are keen to know whether they’ll be able to get a mortgage on it. So, the launch of the property lending check feature is the natural next step.”
