BoI loan eases pain for house buyers

THE Government's affordable housing scheme received a welcome boost yesterday when Bank of Ireland launched a new lending product with the aim of making it easier for qualifying customers to take part.

The bank will break new ground by allowing customers to borrow up to 97% of the purchase price of homes included in the affordable housing scheme.

Customers for conventional mortgages could, until now, borrow a maximum of 92% of the house price, which forced them to come up with the remaining 8% elsewhere.