New lender secures funding to launch 'fixed for life' mortgages

Perenna will use long-term covered bonds to finance its products, taking inspiration from the Danish mortgage model. This approach to lending in the UK means that Perenna will be able to issue 30-year fixed-rate mortgages while giving customers the flexibility to port their mortgage should they want to move.

Perenna’s products will be available to borrowers ranging from first-time buyers, who can access 95% LTV products, to those who want to move, remortgage or take out a mortgage in later life.

Colin Bell, COO and co-founder of Perenna, said: “Our latest round of funding brings us another step closer to offering fixed for life mortgages to the UK market. Long-term, fixed rate mortgages have the power to help many of the currently underserved demographics in the UK, such as first-time buyers and those in later life. By increasing the numbers of people able to secure mortgage finance, we will help boost business volumes for intermediary partners who will play an essential role in helping to promote and educate the benefits of fixed for life mortgages to those who have found the current market model time consuming and costly.

“We want to create a mortgage experience for customers and introducers that puts them at the centre. Mortgages should be easy to apply for, quick to attain and delivered with certainty and that is what we are aiming to do.”

Arjan Verbeek, CEO and Co-Founder of Perenna added: “For too long real and meaningful innovation in the UK mortgage market has been limited. This hasn’t just left Britain with a sector that has poor product offerings for customers. In some cases, borrowers have been excluded from the housing market altogether, from first-time buyers struggling to meet affordability criteria, to older homeowners who want to borrow but are restricted simply because of their age.

“This latest investment is a powerful vote of confidence from a high quality investor consortium in Perenna’s proposition. It puts us on target to launch our innovative range of long-term fixed-rate products, which we really believe could transform the UK mortgage market for consumers, allowing them to borrow what they can actually afford and creating a nation of happy homeowners.”