The study found 7.4 million people cited house prices as one of the main reasons. Other barriers to buying a house included 6.9 million people saying they are unable to afford the deposit, 3.4 million who said they are waiting for house prices to fall and 2.1 million people who said they could not find the right mortgage.
Other reasons for not buying include people feeling that they are not in the right position to buy, citing job security (3 million), lack of time (2.5 million), and not wanting the commitment (6 million) as reasons. The research also showed that of the number of first-time buyers that bought a property in the last five years, 2.7 million of them ended up compromising on the home they bought.
Nici Audham Gardiner, mortgage product executive at Abbey, said: “There are people who feel that they do not want to get on the property ladder, but those who do face many barriers of which the most notable is the cost of homes. However, there other more surprising results, for example, job security, lack of time and finding the right mortgage.
“Strangely, despite hundreds of mortgages available to buyers, our research shows that 12 per cent of non-homeowners believe that they would be on the property ladder if they could just find the right mortgage. We have made changes to our Abbey mortgage proposition to help more people, especially first-time buyers, purchase the home they want.”
Abbey has improved its mortgage product and lending policy to assist more first-time buyers purchase their first home. These include:
- The introduction of an exclusive first-time buyer product range, which includes mortgages that offer 5 per cent cash back, mortgages that can help with up-front costs and mortgages for customers from 3 per cent deposit.
- Standard income multiples have increased and are now linked to the customer’s credit score and not loan-to-value (LTV). Customers with a high credit score will be able to have the same income multiples whether they are joint or single applicants. Plus Abbey can now lend up to 5 times income, subject to affordability.
- Increased maximum loan limit at 95 per cent LTV from £250,000 to £285,000.
- Increased maximum loan limit at 97 per cent LTV for first-time buyer products from £150,000 to £250,000
