Nationwide’s Helping Hand might sound like a win for first-time buyers, but for investors it’s a signal of something bigger. When you look closer at who’s using the scheme and where, it tells a clear story: the South needs help and the North doesn’t.

While Londoners stretch six times their income just to buy an average flat, homes across the North are moving steadily on solid fundamentals. For anyone looking to invest, that’s a clear sign of which market’s really healthy.

And that’s what makes the latest Helping Hand figures so revealing. Behind the upbeat headlines, the numbers expose how uneven the UK housing market has become – and why the best opportunities for value and yield now lie well north of the Watford Gap.

When Nationwide Building Society launched its Helping Hand mortgage in 2021, the goal was clear: make it easier for first-time buyers to get a foot on the ladder by borrowing more against their income. On paper, it sounded like a lifeline for those struggling to keep pace with soaring property prices – especially in the South of England, where affordability has long been a challenge.

The scheme allows borrowers to take out mortgages worth up to six times their annual salary, fixed for five or ten years, with deposits as low as five percent. For a single applicant earning £30,000, that means access to roughly £180,000 of borrowing, around a third more than under a traditional mortgage. Couples earning £50,000 combined could borrow up to £300,000 – a £75,000 boost that, Nationwide says, has already helped over 63,000 buyers onto the property ladder.

So, has the scheme really made a difference? The answer depends on where you look.

A Scheme of Two Halves

Nationwide’s latest figures show that 23,000 buyers used Helping Hand over the past year – a 53 % rise on the previous year. Yet regional data reveals a striking imbalance. The Outer South East accounted for roughly 28 % of those loans, with London adding another 23 %. Meanwhile, in the North West, uptake barely reached 4 %.

The reason is simple: in the North, homes remain relatively affordable. Many buyers here can still secure properties using traditional mortgage multiples without stretching themselves financially. In contrast, in southern regions, even with six-times-income lending, most borrowers are only just able to buy modest properties.

This geographic divide exposes a deeper truth – the housing crisis is not uniform across the UK. In areas like Lancashire, County Durham, and North Yorkshire, markets are balanced and buoyant without special interventions. In London and the South East, however, affordability gaps persist despite schemes like Helping Hand.

Lending More for Less: A Risky Balancing Act

While the expansion of lending criteria has helped some first-time buyers, it also raises a few red flags. Borrowing six times one’s salary is a substantial commitment – one that leaves little room for financial manoeuvre if interest rates rise or personal circumstances change.

In effect, Helping Hand allows people to buy more expensive homes without addressing the root issue: high house prices and sluggish wage growth. The result is a cycle where borrowers stretch further to meet inflated prices, rather than prices adjusting to meet realistic earnings.

And for all the headlines, Helping Hand remains a small player in the grand scheme. The Building Societies Association reports around 333,000 first-time buyer completions in 2024, meaning Nationwide’s scheme accounts for roughly 7 % of that total – and an even smaller slice of the wider mortgage market.

So while 23,000 extra homeowners may sound like a surge, in reality, it’s a ripple in a very large pond.

Southern Stagnation vs Northern Stability

Perhaps most tellingly, the regions where Helping Hand is most active – London and the South East – are the same regions where price growth has stalled. Despite billions in lending, these markets continue to tread water, with limited movement and little sign of renewed momentum.

By contrast, the North continues to perform steadily, driven not by artificial lending boosts but by genuine demand. Places like Durham and Middlesbrough have seen consistent investment in infrastructure, jobs, and regeneration – which in turn fuels real housing need and sustainable growth.

In these regions, rental yields remain significantly higher, and buyers benefit from far better affordability ratios. It’s a more balanced ecosystem – one that doesn’t depend on high-risk borrowing to stay afloat.