Lucy Lewis
Lucy Lewis Senior national accounts and first-time buyer leadSkipton Building Society
As a broker, you’ll know only too well that affording to buy a first home is one of the greatest money challenges of modern times.
Barely a week goes by without media coverage devoted to the struggles that first-time buyers are facing; of how getting onto the property ladder is beyond the reach of far too many people.
At Skipton Building Society, we’re contributing to this really important conversation. For example, earlier this year we reported on how 64% of unmarried couples think it’s more important to buy a first home than to get married.
We separately discovered four in 10 renters would consider moving back in with their parents, with just over three-quarters agreeing it would help them to save for a home much more quickly.
We’re doing all we can to think outside the box and provide much-needed options to new buyers
We provide these insights not simply to grab a few headlines, but because the struggles of first-time buyers are a topic that’s close to our hearts.
Our view is that everyone should have somewhere to call home. And we want to do something about it.
As a mutual with roots that go all the way back to 1853, we believe it’s important to have a purpose-led strategy of looking after our members. Helping you to help more people have a home is a key part of that.
In 2023, we were proud to help over 19,000 first-time buyers turn their home-owning dreams into reality — a 40% increase on the year before. But there is more we’d like to do.
The average cost of a home in the UK increased by 60% between December 2013 and December 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Yet Statista figures show that, roughly over the same period, UK average earnings for full-time employees grew by only 29%.
And average monthly home rental payments shot up by 82% over this decade.
When you factor in the recent cost-of-living crisis that we’re still feeling the effects of, how are first-time buyers supposed to be able to successfully save for and afford a home?
We’re passionate about ditching the jargon around home buying
That first step on the ladder seems to keep getting nudged up further and further.
The scale of challenge of housing affordability
What makes Skipton Building Society different from most other mortgage lenders is the fact we’ve got wider-ranging insights into the housing market, and the different steps a first-time buyer needs to go through.
We head up the Skipton Group, which is made up of different organisations with shared goals. This includes the UK’s largest estate agency, Connells. As a Group, we helped nearly 1 in 10 people who bought and sold a home in the UK last year.
We see and hear the challenges and opportunities first-time buyers and brokers face — and we want to harness the power of the Group to do societal good on this important issue.
We’ve been able to bring together our different group company insights to launch the Skipton Group Home Affordability Index. It’s a tool and data set which analyses both the affordability of buying a property and the cost of running it, to get a better understanding of the full scale of the affordability challenges facing renters and first-time buyers.
We believe it’s important to have a purpose-led strategy of looking after our members
In July we released our inaugural findings — and they make stark reading. Only one in eight potential first-time buyers can purchase the average first-time buyer house in the area where they live.
Things look even more difficult for first-time buyers in the bottom quarter of earners in Great Britain — fewer than one in 100 can afford to take the first step on the property ladder in their local area. When it comes to renters, four in 10 are spending 45% or more of their income on essential housing costs.
Helping more people have a home
In response to these findings, and in line with our purpose, we’ve released a new range of mortgage products that are specifically designed for first-time buyers — knocking down some of the barriers first-time buyers and brokers may be facing.
We’ve been able to bring together our different group company insights to launch the Skipton Group Home Affordability Index
We’ve launched new products and added other criteria points that might fit that client in need of a little help. For example:
First-time buyers can borrow up to 5.5 times on up to 90% LTV.
Up to 95% LTV available (including on new builds and flats).
Free standard valuation fees.
£1,500 cashback on selected products (minimum loan requirement of £125,000) on completion of the home purchase.
Discounted home surveys, provided by Connells.
This is on top of other innovative mortgage products designed for first-time buyers.
Our Income Booster scheme (aka JBSP) allows your clients to add up to three extra people to a mortgage, without making them a legal owner of the property, and they don’t need to be family members as with some other lenders. Then there’s our unique Track Record mortgage with 5% or less deposit — eligibility criteria apply.
Our view is that everyone should have somewhere to call home. And we want to do something about it
We have a great track record of doing more to help first-time buyers. We were the first organisation to offer a Cash Lifetime Isa that allows people to save for a first home.
We’re also passionate about ditching the jargon around home buying — something that our research discovered was leaving 77% of first-time buyers feeling more stressed about the process.
Here to help you do more
We know, from the many brokers we speak to, just how frustrating it can be to have a first-time buyer client with limited options across the market to help them. We’re doing all we can to think outside the box and provide much-needed options to new buyers.
We’re keen to work closely with you to find mortgage solutions for your clients — and give them the reassurance and confidence they need to become property owners.
You can try the Homes Affordability Index Tool here
Read more about what we’re doing for first-time buyers here
Hear more about Income Booster here
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM THE FIRST TIME BUYERS SUPPLEMENT BY CLICKING ON THE POSTS BELOW:
Leader: Help is out there
Feature: Onwards and upwards
Feature: First-time buyers navigate cost-of-living crisis
YOU CAN ALSO VIEW THE DIGITAL EDITION OF THE SUPPLEMENT HERE