29% of consumers believe that while access to mortgages has broadly improved it is not enough, according to latest research from Precise Mortgages.
53% of respondents feel that the market continues to favour those with large deposits and 39% say mortgages are too difficult to obtain for first time buyers.
There is also a strong sense that the current mortgage market needs to adapt to keep pace with consumer need. 20% of respondents feel that mortgages are too difficult to access for the self-employed or freelancers while 19% argued that the mortgage market doesn’t cater well enough to those with blemishes in their credit history.
When it comes to improving the mortgage market, research respondents identified improving rates and access as well as considering lending criteria and eligibility on an individual basis as paramount. While government initiatives such as Help to Buy have brought a boost for some, 22% say they have very little knowledge of it, while 11% believe it is not enough and other innovations are needed to drive market growth.
Alan Cleary, managing director of Precise Mortgages, said: “The research presents an interesting conundrum – on the one hand confidence has returned and this is being rightly celebrated across the industry but there appears to be a delay in this buoyancy filtering down to the consumer. Ultimately, the market is there to serve them and yet many of them feel unserved by lenders and concerned that access to the market is denied to them. We have a significant role to play in combating the feeling that mortgages are difficult to obtain, that lenders continue to favour large deposits and are unforgiving of those with credit blemishes or alternative employment histories, perhaps freelance or self-employed.
“There are specialist lenders in the market designed to meet this challenge but there is still more to be done across the wider industry to innovate products and ensure they respond to contemporary consumer need. Ensuring that all viable homeowners have access to mortgage products should be the aim of lenders across the board, both to meet homeowning aspirations and continue to grow the recovering British economy.”
