First-time buyers bear brunt of market turbulence

April 10, 2026 by Brendan O'Neill

Surveys and Statistics

People buying a home for the first time are the ones bearing the brunt of the UK mortgage market turbulence at the moment because they are the most dependent on mortgages.

This is the finding of new research by the reallymoving buyer comparison site. Looking at figures for the last half-year, it found that 90.5% of those buying for the first time had done so with a mortgage. This figure increased to 92.6% last month, which is the highest it has been since the autumn of 2013. The increase has been attributed to first-time buyers trying to lock into deals at a time when products are being withdrawn at short notice and rates are spiralling upwards.

It is this reliance on mortgages to afford home purchases that is leaving first-time buyers particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of the market. The number of them in that position was over 90% in almost every part of the country. The exceptions are Yorkshire & Humber, Wales and the North East, where it is 89.8%, 88.5% and 87.7% respectively.

As they need to borrow to buy, first-time buyers are the group most affected by constant changes in product availability and pricing. The research shows that other groups are hardly immune though, as 87% of those moving to bigger properties use a mortgage, while 40.5% of those downsizing do.

Rob Houghton from reallymoving said that buyers need to locate suitable loans – and properties – as fast as they can.

The help of a mortgage advisor with CeMAP training is critical for buyers in the current mortgage market environment.