The analysis found that self-employed applicants, including limited company directors and contractors, had an average of 12 eligible lenders available to them, compared with 19 for employed borrowers.
Self-employed applicants accounted for around 12% of all mortgage applications processed through MBT’s platform.
The disparity extended beyond lender choice. Almost one in five self-employed applicants were unable to find a single eligible lender, compared with around one in eight employed borrowers. Overall, self-employed applicants were around 42% more likely to be rejected by every lender on the panel.
The gap has narrowed only slightly over the past year. In June 2025, 22% of self-employed applications were rejected by every lender, compared with 16% of employed applications.
While affordability has improved across the wider mortgage market, self-employed borrowers have not benefitted to the same extent.
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Tanya Toumadj, chief executive of MBT, said: “Self-employed people are a fair share of this market, not a niche part of it. Our data shows they’re less likely to be offered a loan at all, and when they are, their choice of lenders is smaller.
“Fewer options doesn’t mean no options, but it does mean accurate research across a wide range of lenders becomes even more necessary to find the right one for that borrower. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of the FCA’s consultation.”
