When Nicole and Chris Shorten, both 30, made an offer on their first home in Oxfordshire in January, they couldn’t believe their luck.

The couple had managed to bag their dream £320,000 home with just a £16,000 deposit after discovering a little-known mortgage, which allowed them to get on the property ladder years earlier than expected.

They moved into the 3-bed house in Grove with their 21-month-old twin daughters in March this year by using an Income Plus mortgage, offered by Leeds Building Society.

This mortgage allows prospective homebuyers with a minimum household income of £30,000 to borrow up to 5.5 times their annual earnings, rather than the standard 4.5 times.

Leeds Building Society says its mortgage allows a typical first-time buyer to borrow around £66,000 more than the

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