Green shoots meet hard stats as lenders and brokers rethink how to get people on the property ladder
The fourth iteration of the Skipton Group Home Affordability Index has uncovered some green shoots of optimism.
That’s rooted in both macro trends and what Derek Adams, Senior National Accounts Lead at Skipton Building Society, is seeing on the ground. The data points to incomes outstripping costs over the next few years, rates and inflation heading in the right direction, and significant pent‑up demand from borrowers. In his own New Year market update, the message was clear: conditions for 2026 look increasingly positive.
“It’s nice to see some green shoots,” Adams says, noting that all of this comes with the usual caveat around unforeseen Black Swan events. “There’s a lot of optimism from the industry for the years ahead.”
Affordability still under strain: bigger deposits, older buyers, and more pressure on incomes
Despite that upswing, the Index still brings some stark findings. One of the most sobering is just how far deposits have run away from incomes: the average first‑time buyer (FTB) now needs a deposit worth more than a full year’s income The average age of a FTB has climbed to 34, up from 29 in the mid‑1990s, and the share of under‑25s getting on the ladder has fallen to just 6% from 23%.
“It’s really quite a big difference, to go from one‑quarter to one‑fifteenth,” Adams says. “The size of the deposit is the main barrier: it's no surprise that the average age of the FTB has increased.
Income strain is another clear theme from the recent Index. Just over half of recent first‑time buyers now need two or more full‑time incomes to make a purchase stack up. Whilst many households rely on benefits or variable pay that some affordability models still struggle to capture.
Product innovation that could turn green shoots into completions
Skipton has broadened how it looks at forms of income in its affordability calculator, reflecting how people are paid today. In real‑world broker cases, that has helped turn “no solution” scenarios into viable mortgages where basic income alone would fall short.
In one recent example, a single parent wanted to buy a home but a broker struggled to get the numbers to work with several lenders. When she tried Skipton, a willingness to consider non‑traditional income, such as child benefits, produced a figure that actually helped the customer.
“That works well for us and well for brokers,” Adams notes. “I'm not saying that our calculator beats everybody else's, but for the right scenario, it can be quite generous.”
On the deposit side, Skipton was one of the first lenders to roll out a zero‑per‑cent deposit Track Record mortgage, aimed at current or recent renters who can evidence a strong payment history but lack savings or access to the “Bank of Mum and Dad”. They must be aged 21+, not owned a property in the UK in the last three years and have paid all rent for 12 months in a row within the last 18 months.
Brokers had long been saying it was strange that someone can pay rent every month but can’t get a mortgage. Initially more restrictive, the product has been refined over time: at launch, the mortgage payment couldn’t exceed the rental payment, but now it could be up to 120% of the person’s monthly rent (calculated as a mean average over the last 6 months) “That enhancement has helped drive up volumes.,” Adams says. “A lot of brokers are telling me how Track Record helped a client that couldn’t be helped elsewhere.”
Skipton also offers the Income Booster proposition, allowing up to four people on a mortgage application to lift affordability and remove the need for location or property‑type compromises younger buyers often have to make. Income Booster is a joint mortgage, so all borrowers will share the legal responsibility for paying the mortgage. The extra people on the mortgage are not legal owners of the property. Independent legal advice is required for all non-proprietors.
More recently, the lender introduced Delayed Start mortgages – which allow borrowers to delay mortgage repayments at the beginning of the term - now available over one, two or three months, depending on the product chosen, after completion (though interest does accrue from day one) — to recognise the cost of moving and setting up a first home.
On top of this, Skipton has taken advantage of the FCA’s growth agenda to apply for enhanced loan‑to‑income multiples, allowing it to lend more in suitable cases. There’s been a definite appetite for this option since implementing it in late 2025.
Taken together, Adams argues, these responses are about making sure that as the macro “green shoots” appear, more of the would‑be FTBs highlighted in the Index could act on them.
Committed to becoming the go‑to lender for FTBs, Skipton had targeted 2028 for half of its lending to be to first-time buyers. It surpassed that benchmark last year, with 24,000 of its 46,000 customers buying their first home.
“It further cements that if you have the right solutions out there, there’s demand for them,” Adams says. “If a FTB walks into a broker’s office, the broker’s already thinking, ‘I wonder what Skipton has that would suit this case.’ That’s the place we want to get to.”
From doom and gloom to dialogue: why innovation and broker advice matter more than ever
The latest Index underlines that there’s no one actor who can solve these pressing issues. It demands collaboration across stakeholders, from lenders to government, with the Index suggesting an industry-wide working group.
Focusing on the real change lenders can drive, innovation can’t sit with one provider. Other lenders, including some of the Big Six, are entering the higher LTV space, for example. This is an expansion Adams welcomes, as more contemporaries realise that Skipton could have the right idea.
“The nice thing for me is we’re seen as a lender on the frontlines, tackling a lot of this,” he says. “Brokers may not have used one of our propositions before, but there’s a sense that we’re willing to do things slightly differently. They say to me, at least Skipton is trying new things.”
That wider movement also matters, Adams argues, because there’s still a powerful misconception among many FTBs that unless they already have a sizeable deposit, there’s no point even starting the journey. The more lenders and brokers talk about more creative propositions, the more awareness there is that help may be available — and the more reason there is for brokers to start those conversations earlier.
“Because of the doom and gloom out there, there’s a lack of awareness that there’s more help out there than would‑be clients think there is,” Adams stresses, suggesting that simply flagging that 100% mortgages exist can be enough to get a hesitant potential client talking.
“That’s where the value of advice comes in. Brokers have access to the whole market, so it’s about understanding which lenders can do what. Make sure you consider every avenue to get them through the door of their first home.”
Mortgages subject to eligibility and lending criteria.
Skipton Group Home Affordability Index, March 2026
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The Skipton Group Home Affordability Index is not a benchmark for the purposes of UK Benchmark Regulation, nor for the purposes of any other legislation or regulation. The Skipton Group Home Affordability Index is produced for information purposes only and must not be used or relied upon for commercial purposes, including as a reference for:
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This article was created in partnership with Skipton Building Society.
