In a market stacked against the underdog, Skipton offers a way for brokers to recommend meaningful solutions
This article was written in association with Skipton Building Society.
Owning a home has long been part of the traditional definition of success, but for many first-time buyers (FTBs), that dream feels more like a distant horizon than an attainable goal. The housing market is daunting, and the hurdles that stand in the way of potential buyers seem to grow more insurmountable by the year.
The numbers speak for themselves. In 2023, full-time workers in England found themselves needing to earn 8.3 times their annual salary to purchase a home, a stark contrast to the much more accessible 3.55 times annual earnings in 1997. This shift has created a barrier that feels nearly impossible for many to break through. Renting, once seen as a temporary stepping stone, has turned into a long-term situation for many aspiring homeowners, with rent taking up a significant chunk of income and leaving little to save for that all-important deposit.
Skipton Group’s Home Affordability Index, created with Oxford Economics, adds further weight to these realities. It highlights the fact that only one in eight potential first-time buyers in Great Britain can afford the average FTB property in their area. For those earning £22,850 or less annually, that figure plummets to just one in one hundred. The Index offers a fresh perspective by not only calculating the cost of buying a property but also factoring in the day-to-day costs of living in the property, like bills and local authority fees. This more holistic view gives first-time buyers—and their brokers—a clearer understanding of the true financial commitment that home ownership requires.
The difficulty in home ownership lies not in the lack of will, but in the sheer scale of the obstacles in the way. The West Midlands, London, and Wales, for example, have become some of the least affordable areas in Great Britain, where buyers must stretch their budgets to the breaking point just to get a foothold on the property ladder.
Affordability is the key word here, and unsurprisingly, the figures aren't encouraging. The Home Affordability Index revealed that nearly four in ten renters are spending 45% or more of their income on essential housing costs, making it even harder to save for a future home. Skipton Group have looked at this data and what can be done to help fix some of the issues. With innovations like Skipton Building Society’s Track Record mortgage, which comes with a fixed interest rate for five years and no completion fees, first-time buyers may have a way to make home ownership a reality.
Track Record allows renters to use their history of on-time rent payments as evidence of their ability to handle a mortgage—without needing a deposit. For many renters, this could be the game-changer they need. As Derek Adams, Skipton’s senior national accounts lead, explains, “We wanted brokers to look at our FTB proposition and think, ‘Skipton could have a solution for you’. We hope that products like Track Record and other elements of our FTB Range can help brokers to help those clients who may feel home ownership was unachievable.”
To further discuss the pressure on first-time buyers and possible solutions, Skipton recently held a webinar where they pulled back the curtain on their enhanced range of FTB products and criteria, making it clear that this isn't just another attempt to ride the first-time buyer wave.
The challenges are undeniably significant, but the desire to own a home isn’t fading. If anything, the obstacles are pushing potential buyers to look more closely at the options available, and for those who are creative in their approach—whether through non-traditional mortgage solutions or by finding more affordable regions to call home—there are still paths forward. The ladder may be taller than it was in previous decades, but with Skipton's tools and solutions, many first-time buyers might just find their way up.
The webinar ‘Empowering First Time Buyers’ is available to watch back here.
