With affordability pressures, deposit challenges and a rapidly evolving mortgage market, the path to homeownership can feel increasingly complex for first-time buyers. But are some prospective homeowners ruling themselves out before they have fully explored the options available?
Getting onto the property ladder remains a major ambition for many people, but understanding how to get there can be far from straightforward.
Research by the BSA highlighted in the first episode of Newcastle Building Society’s new Powered by Partnership podcast shows that 47% of aspiring buyers have never spoken to a lender or mortgage broker. For advisers, that points to an important challenge: ensuring potential first-time buyers understand the options available to them and seek advice early enough to make informed decisions about their route to homeownership.
At the same time, the mortgage market continues to evolve. Longer mortgage terms, higher loan-to-value lending, low-deposit products and different approaches to affordability are creating more potential routes onto the property ladder. But with more choice comes a greater need to understand individual circumstances and the longer-term implications of different mortgage options.
In the first episode of Powered by Partnership, Francesco Di Pietro, head of intermediary mortgages at Newcastle Building Society, is joined by Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage and housing policy at the Building Societies Association, and Ben Riley, director at First Mortgage, to explore what the changing first-time buyer market means for brokers and their clients.
The conversation examines the affordability and deposit challenges facing prospective buyers, the growing range of lending solutions available, and the role brokers can play in closing the awareness gap and helping clients understand what may be possible. It also considers the balance between technology and human expertise, and why understanding the person behind the mortgage application remains so important.
Watch the full discussion below.
Episode 2 of the Powered by Partnership Podcast series will be published next week on the 29th September
