Your boost is an equity loan that is frozen for the first 5 years after you take out your mortgage. At 5 years, it will unfreeze and begin to move up or down in line with the value of your home – including any increase or decrease in those 5 years.
You are allowed a 6 week grace period at the 5-year mark to give you time, if needed, to arrange a remortgage and pay off your boost.
This means if the value of the property has increased at the 5-year mark, you can still repay the original amount of the boost up until 5 years and 6 weeks after the start of the loan.
However, if the value of the property has fallen, the amount you owe will decrease straight away at exactly 5 years, meaning you could repay less than you originally borrowed right away.
End of year | Assumed house price growth | Property value | Boost balance (assuming no repayments) |
Year 1 | +2% | £200,000 | £30,000 |
Year 2 | +2% | £204,000 | £30,000 |
Year 3 | +2% | £208,080 | £30,000 |
Year 4 | +2% | £212,242 | £30,000 |
Year 5 | +2% | £216,486 | £30,000 |
Year 6 | +2% | £220,816 | £33,122 |
Year 7 | +2% | £225,232 | £33,785 |
Year 8 | +2% | £229,737 | £34,461 |