1 in 3 of FTBs have given up on ever owning — there probably wrong.

If you've already decided you'll never own a home, stop. New research suggests you may be ruling yourself out before you've even asked the question.

The Building Societies Association surveyed 1,000 UK adults who haven't yet bought their first home. One in three (32%) believe they'll never own a place of their own. Almost half (47%) have never spoken to a lender or broker to check what's actually possible.

That's the real barrier. Not your bank balance. Not your credit score. It's the assumption that the door is locked before you've tried the handle.

The gap is striking. The BSA showed aspiring buyers the mortgages, actually low-deposit and no-deposit ones. Two-thirds (67%) then said they could buy sooner than they thought.

You probably think you need a big deposit. You probably don't. The same survey found 59% of today's first-time buyers have less than £10,000 saved. Yet they're still buying. Almost a quarter of building society mortgages for FTB went to buyers with a deposit under 5%.

Some lenders don't ask for a deposit at all. Rent Track Record mortgage uses your rent payment history instead. If you've paid rent on time for 12 months, you can borrow up to £600,000 with no deposit. Your proof you can afford a mortgage is the rent you already pay every month.

You might think your credit score disqualifies you. Often it doesn't. You might think variable or self-employed income rules you out. It doesn't have to. Mortgage Advisers assess real people, not algorithms.

So what should you do? Talk to your mortgage adviser. Half the aspiring buyers in the survey didn't know who to speak to first. The answer is a mortgage adviser. They'll run the numbers, check your credit, and tell you straight what you can borrow.

You don't have to be ready to buy today. You just have to stop assuming you can't. Your mortgage adviser can often provide an Agreement in Principle or plan a route to obtain one in time.

Source:

• https://www.bsa.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/think-again!-first-time-buyers-could-be-much-closer-to-owning-a-home-than-they-realise
• https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/opinion/comment-getting-in-front-of-first-time-buyers/