Lenders and brokers must rally to help first-time buyers

As the dust settles on a record-breaking Autumn Budget, one thing is clear – it remains up to the mortgage industry to support first-time buyers (FTBs).

While inflation has returned to normal levels and interest rates are creeping ever so slowly down, affordability challenges continue, especially for those looking to get onto the property ladder.

The Labour Manifesto pledged to ‘make it easier for people to buy their first home’, but there wasn’t anything in their first budget statement to support that goal in the short-term.

We did see policies that are intended to have a positive impact on the FTB market later down the line, such as the building of more houses and additional funding for affordable homes. The government also claimed its second home stamp duty increases will ‘support over 130,000 additional transactions from people buying their first home, or moving home, over the next five years’. Whether these measures will have the desired effect remains to be seen.

However, there was a distinct lack of measures to help first-time buyers now, such as reintroducing the Help to Buy Scheme or committing to extend the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme.

“It’s likely that first-time buyers will be left feeling that their prospects are currently worse, rather than better”

In fact, the only direct impact for wannabe homeowners was a return to the lower stamp duty threshold of £300,000, down from £425,000, as of 1 April 2025.

We don’t yet know what future Budgets will bring, but it’s likely that first-time buyers will be left feeling that their prospects are currently worse, rather than better. They need help with deposits, help with affordability and they quite probably need some reassurance from their broker that all is not lost.

Improving products and criteria for FTBs

This is why it’s more important than ever that lenders and brokers rally to help this vital market sector. It’s an area we’ve really focused on as a society throughout 2023 by adding new products, widening criteria and taking a common sense approach to the needs of individual applicants.

This year we have taken the step of integrating our joint borrower sole proprietor (JBSP) proposition across the majority of our prime range, to make it as accessible as possible. JBSP allows two parents to join a borrower on a mortgage to improve affordability, but without the need for them to be co-owners of the property. Adding it to the prime range means we can consider JBSP applicants based on our standard credit criteria, including debt management plans if none have been registered in the last three years.

It has proved to be a popular move and we’ve seen enquiries for JBSP double this year.

The feedback from brokers has also been positive. Katherine Stagg, from Stagg Mortgage Services, recently completed her first JBSP mortgage with us.

She said: “Buckinghamshire demonstrated exceptional performance in a recent case we handled together. The situation was particularly challenging; however, the team exceeded our expectations by providing a timely offer. The case manager and business development manager were both amazing in offering support and addressing any enquiries we had.”

The value of the lender/broker relationship

This shows the value of the lender/broker relationship and the importance of all working together to overcome challenges to ultimately help someone achieve their homeowning dream.

We also launched our JBSP Deposit Lite mortgage this year to provide a solution to both the deposit and affordability challenges in one product. This complements our existing Deposit Lite offer and other FTB-friendly mortgages and criteria.

“Hopefully industry flexibility and innovation will continue to help keep the first-time buyer market moving”

For example, we accept gifted deposits from siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, as well as parents. We also offer 95% LTV loans for FTBs and can consider concessionary purchases where parents are selling a property for their child to live in.

This is in addition to many other flexible criteria designed to boost affordability. Hopefully industry flexibility and innovation will continue to help keep the first-time buyer market moving, while we wait for government policy intervention.

For the broker, this means making sure you’re well informed about the offer from different lenders as criteria can vary significantly when it comes to bespoke products and different appetites for risk.