Mortgage sales to borrowers with impaired credit histories reached their highest annual level since 2008 in 2025.
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) data obtained through a freedom of information request by Broadstone revealed this was the first time annual sales have exceeded 10,000 since 2008.
The figures exclude internal product transfers, second charge mortgages, further advances and business loans.
Mortgage sales to borrowers with impaired credit histories accelerated in the second half of 2025.
A total of 5,776 mortgages were sold during H2 2025, which was 24% higher than the 4,657 recorded in H2 2024.
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Sales in H2 2025 were also 34% higher than the 4,313 completed in the first half of the year.
The trend continued into 2026, with 5,965 mortgages sold in the first six months of the year. Of those, 3,098 were completed in Q2 2026.
This was the highest quarterly total since Q3 2008, when 6,540 mortgages were sold to borrowers with impaired credit histories.
John Barbour, senior director in Broadstone’s banking and credit advisory business, said the increase in mortgage sales over the past year suggested the market had become more accommodating to borrowers whose credit histories may previously have limited their access to mortgage lending.
Barbour added that unprecedented macroeconomic events have marred credit histories.
“Financial difficulties caused by the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the rapid increase in interest rates may have left marks on borrowers’ credit records that do not accurately represent their current circumstances,” he said.
Barbour continued: “Lenders increasingly have access to the data, analytics and modelling that enable them to take a more nuanced view of risk.
“Taken alongside growing competition among specialist lenders, greater product availability and flexibility in affordability assessments, this more individualised approach can support broader access to sustainable mortgage lending without compromising consumer protection or lending standards.”
