Younger buyers and families are suffering most from England and Wales’s outdated homebuying process, new research from Santander UK has warned.
The bank’s Fixing the Broken Chain report, produced with WPI Economics and JL Partners, reveals that more than 530,000 housing transactions collapse each year. The data show younger consumers are disproportionately affected, with 36% of 25 to 34-year-olds having experienced a failed property transaction, compared to 23% of the wider population.
The strain extends beyond financial frustration. Almost two-thirds (61%) of 18 to 24-year-olds said they felt constantly or frequently stressed during the buying process, against 54% of the general public.
The result, the study suggests, is growing reluctance among younger buyers to enter the market at all: 42% of 18 to 24-year-olds and 38% of 25 to 34-year-olds said they had considered delaying or abandoning plans to buy a home.
BIGGER PROBLEM
Santander’s findings highlight a system-wide malaise. Older homeowners, who could help free up supply by moving, are instead staying put. A third (32%) of 55 to 64-year-olds and over a third (36%) of 64 to 74-year-olds said previous experiences had made them less likely to move again. This reluctance, the report argues, traps families in unsuitable homes and locks first-time buyers out of the market altogether.
Despite this, there is widespread appetite for reform. More than three-quarters of under-35s said a more streamlined process would encourage them to move, compared with just over half (57%) of consumers overall. Nearly half (45%) of older respondents between 55 and 74 said they too would be more likely to move if the process were improved.
David Morris, head of homes at Santander UK, said: “Buying a first home or moving to accommodate a growing family should be a moment of joy, but, for too many young people, it’s become an exhausting and uncertain ordeal that puts huge pressure on their finances and family life, let alone their mental health. This absolutely should not be the case for a transaction that constitutes one of their biggest financial commitments.
“We need to act to make it easier for people of all ages to buy and sell so we can get the market moving, that’s why we’re calling for a number of simple yet powerful reforms, which would give buyers and sellers more confidence, ease the financial and emotional strain and create a housing system fit for the next generation.”
The bank has urged the government and regulators to implement a suite of reforms aimed at modernising the homebuying process. These include mandating digitisation across all stakeholders, requiring better up-front information disclosure, disincentivising gazumping and gazundering, and creating a centralised government-owned property data system.
Santander is also calling for improved data sharing through Open Property, incentives for the use of artificial intelligence, and a long-term policy framework to support market activity.
Santander argues that such changes could reduce the number of failed transactions, make the process less stressful and costly, and unlock the supply of homes needed to meet the demands of the next generation of buyers.
