Investec offers mortgage for the affluent

Investec Private Bank has entered the high-income mortgage market by introducing a highly personalised mortgage based on a client's income and wealth rather than the value of the mortgaged property.
People earning in excess of £150,000 a year can gain finance to buy property worth from £500,000 up to £10 million and more.

Investec mortgages can be secured against a variety of assets, including property, investment holdings and offshore deposits, and are available in different currencies.
Investec has launched the new mortgage range because of the demand from mass-affluent and high net worth individuals, who prefer to avoid high street lenders such as Barclays, Abbey, Mortgage Express and Northern Rock.

Wayne Preston, of Investec, says: "High street and specialist lenders cover virtually every angle of the mortgage market, but their emphasis is increasingly less on the individual and more about a multitude of product parameters relating to the mortgaged property. We aim to redress this balance."

Investec research shows there are over 104,000 people in the UK with an annual income of at least £200,000. Furthermore, Land Registry data shows that sales of homes worth in excess of £1m increased by 48% to year end February 2007.

Investec thinks that the true number could be much higher and Preston says: "The increase may be greater as, in our experience, many high value properties are purchased by acquiring the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that own them and these transactions are not reflected in the registry".