FIRST-TIME buyers have been given a boost after Britain's biggest mortgage lender pledged to lend £6.5 billion to help people into their first home.

Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Halifax, said it hoped its commitment will mean 60,000 people get on to the property ladder by the end of this year.

The figure is an increase from last year, when the group said it would lend £5bn and get 50,000 people into their first home.

The pledge will be delivered through a range of products, including its Lend A Hand scheme, where a mortgage is backed by a friend or family member's savings.

Halifax now provides one in three mortgages on affordable housing schemes, including shared ownership and shared equity. The group also provides more than 40% of funding for the NewBuy scheme, where lenders and the Government secure the mortgage on a new-build home.

Lloyds' pledge comes after figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed first-time buyer numbers were up by almost one-quarter year-on-year.

Lenders have been slashing their mortgage rates in recent months following the launch of the Funding for Lending scheme to give banks access to cheap finance. Lloyds has already drawn £3bn from the Government scheme.

Stephen Noakes, mortgage director at Lloyds, said: "While the property market is likely to continue to be challenging, we remain committed to getting things right at the start of the chain."