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Halifax offers up to £1000 cashback for First Time Buyers

Journalist: Tom Dunstan, FTAdviser

ended 22. April 2024

Launching from today (April 22), Halifax offers a new first time buyer product range which will offer £500 cashback or the standard range and £1000 cashback for fits green home product range.

What is your opinion on this announcement? Will this be an effective way to attract first-time buyers into the mortgage market? Should more to done to appeal to first time buyers in general?

11 responses from the Newspage community

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Akhil Mair
Director at Our Mortgage Broker
Fantastic news from Halifax's with there new first-time buyer incentives, especially the generous cashback offers, will really help make home buying more accessible and appealing. Great move.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
A healthy cash back is very appealing to many borrowers, but especially first-time buyers, who have to save a huge sum of cash now for even a relatively small percentage deposit. It's the fees and other costs associated with a mortgage that they struggle with, even more so than the monthly repayments in many cases. A £1000 cash back goes a long way to helping fund some of those costs.
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Lee Gathercole
Co-Founder at Rebus Financial Services
This is very welcome news for first time buyers who tirelessly strive to save every penny in their pursuit of homeownership. An additional £500 to £1,000 can significantly alleviate the financial burden of various fees along the way. This will be a big pull for many taking their first step on the property ladder.
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Dariusz Karpowicz
Director at Albion Financial Advice
Halifax's new cashback offers for first-time buyers are certainly a pleasant perk, but let's be clear—it's just the cherry on top. While £500 or £1,000 cashback can sweeten the deal, it's unlikely to be the deciding factor for anyone on the fence about entering the property market. To really turn the tide and encourage more first-time buyers, we need deeper, more substantial measures. Broader, more innovative schemes that address the core challenges of affordability and accessibility are essential for nurturing a healthier housing market and expanding home ownership opportunities.
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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
The latest moves from Halifax will push the lender up the "best buy" tables, however it's going to take far more than cashback to drive first-time buyers into action in numbers. Halifax are regurgitating old tricks, attempting to invigorate a stale market, but this lacks imagination or innovation.
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
A huge helping hand from Halifax. A £500 'thank you' from Halifax will definitely take the edge off the costs that first time buyers face when buying their home. It is encouraging to see lenders introduce perks like this, competing on rate is tough at the moment so the little extras show a real intent to lend and they can make a difference to borrowers.
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Ken James
Director at Contractor Mortgage Services
First time buyers will welcome Cash backs whatever the amount, but it wont drive them in their Hordes to the door of Halifax, the cost of the mortgage itself will still be a determing factor for most if not all First time buyers. What first time buyers need is more affordable rates, and for lenders to be more flexible on their lending limits. If you want new business the lenders need to consider what is actually important to the buyers, from what I have experienced, affordable lending is top of that list along with Lower deposit requirements.
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Elliott Culley
Director at Switch Mortgage Finance
Cashback is a nice bonus for a first time buyer as it can reduce costs of purchasing a new home. However most first time buyers will be driven into the market by rate. If interest rates in general are not attractive, then first time buyers will delay their plans to take thier first steps on to the ladder.
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Robert Timm
Managing Director at Sunland Mortgages
Halifax putting £500 and £1000 cashback on First Time Buyer products is a positive message to beat the drum about during what has been a difficult period to promote much good news or feel good. Ideally, the rates will be competitive too for a double-win!
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Graham Cox
Director at Bridging Hub
The Halifax are trying to fix a broken leg with a sticking plaster. Luring first-time buyers into the property market with more cashback will do nothing if the underlying cause isn't addressed. Lack of affordability. House prices are simply too high, particularly when mortgage rates have tripled over the past couple of years.
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Austyn Johnson
Founder at Mortgages For Actors
I dont think it will attract them as such, but its a big bonus for us to help with our recommendation.
If we can offset some of the costs via cashback, it will always help with ruling out slow free legals, which the inexperienced could be swayed by.
They are not the first to do this level of cashback, but as they are a high street lender and possibly one of the first stops for a lot of FTB's, they will be one of the ones we recommend.