Survey discovers biggest hurdles for first-time buyers

September 14, 2024 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

The results of a survey that spoke to people who are trying to buy their first home have been released, and they paint a picture of the biggest hurdles that such buyers are faced with.

This survey was carried out by the specialist lender Bluestone Mortgages. It reveals that living costs and affordability are the main hurdles to buying for 37% of first-time homebuyers. That amounts to almost two-fifths of them. A further 34% of the people surveyed said that saving enough money for the deposit was the primary problem they faced. Not having a high enough income was cited by 33%.

Another point the survey discovered was that the majority of those trying to buy a first home have no awareness of schemes that can assist with this issue. Just 36% stated that they knew about shared ownership schemes. Meanwhile, a mere 8% had only even heard of the Deposit Unlock scheme.

One of the main reasons for that was also uncovered by the Bluestone survey. Just three out of every 10 participants were speaking to a professional mortgage advisor about their situation.

Ryan Davies from Bluestone Mortgages said that getting onto the property ladder was still possible for people, despite the many challenges they are faced with, if they get the help they need to find the right schemes and products.

Clearly, there is a sizeable customer base out there for advisors with the CeMAP qualification, who need to be won over.