How a broker can help you climb the ‘broken’ housing ladder

Owning a home remains paramount for most people in the UK. Research from Yorkshire Building Society found that 88% of adults still see homeownership as a key life goal. But wanting to own a home and being able to buy one have become very different things.

The report, No Way Home? Restoring Britain’s Housing Ladder, highlights the challenges facing the UK housing market. While homeownership remains high on people’s wish lists, only 11% of renters aged 20 to 44 in England can currently buy.

The report emphasises that housing mobility is blocked at every stage. Contractors and self-employed professionals face even higher hurdles due to complex income structures.

Its findings make for sobering reading. But buried within them is something more encouraging: for many people, the barriers to buying may be smaller than they think.

Housing ladder blocked at every stage (not just the bottom)

It’s tempting to think of accessing the housing ladder as a first-time buyer problem. But the report makes clear that housing mobility has become increasingly difficult at every stage:

• Renters struggling to save a deposit,
• Growing families unable to move up the ladder,
• Older homeowners who want to downsize, but who find costs and complexity too great.

For contractors and self-employed professionals, the challenge is even greater. Many have income structures that mainstream lenders simply don’t know how to interpret. That can lead to lower mortgage offers than their real earnings justify. Or, all too often, rejections that were never warranted in the first place.

Lending rules have changed (for the better)

One development that’s not received enough attention is a change to the rules governing how much lenders can offer.

Last year, regulators relaxed limits on loan-to-income ratios and mortgage stress testing. In plain language, that means some lenders now have more flexibility to offer larger mortgages to people who can genuinely afford them. For people who assumed that the numbers wouldn’t work in their favour, this relaxation presents a genuine opportunity.

In addition, Accord Mortgages, part of the Yorkshire Building Society (YBS), also launched a £5,000 deposit mortgage. This low entry level has already helped more than 2,500 first-time buyers purchase a home. Accord Mortgages has since extended the mortgage to include flats. It means that buyers can purchase properties worth up to £500,000 with just a £5,000 deposit.

Mortgages like this won’t solve the housing crisis on their own. But they are a sign that lenders are thinking differently about who can buy, and under what conditions.

You may be closer to buying than you think

A consistent finding in the YBS report is that many aspiring buyers still believe that large deposits or a perfect credit history are prerequisites for homeownership. Yes, they’re preferable. But they’re not prerequisites!

As specialist brokers, we know there are more mortgage pathways than people assume.

This is especially true for contractors. A common misconception is that contractors need a larger deposit than employed buyers. They also don’t need the years of accounts that traditional lending criteria often demand.

With specialist lenders, contractors can access contract-based underwriting. This type of underwriting allows a contractor on a strong day rate to borrow as competitively as any salaried employee. Rather than using a conservative income based on their tax return, underwriters assess the contractor’s actual earning capacity.

Specialist brokers give contractors access to these underwriters, significantly improving their mortgage borrowing potential.

Beyond access: what a good broker actually does

The role of a mortgage broker is to help you:

• Test your assumptions,
• Understand your options, and
• Navigate lender criteria, including any historic credit issues that might otherwise complicate your application.

For contractors, the broker’s role is even more specific. They know which lenders use your gross day rate to calculate affordability. They know how to factor in retained profits for limited company directors.

They even know how to present a blended income, contract work alongside PAYE, for example, or working multiple contracts together. Whatever your payment structure, they’ll make sure you get a mortgage offer that reflects your full earning capacity, not the fraction of it that a mainstream lender’s algorithm might recognise.

And their role goes even further. The broker’s job isn’t just to secure a mortgage today. They should also look to support you as your needs change over time. That may mean:

• Remortgaging when your rate ends,
• Securing a homemover application should you need to move to a larger property as your family grows, or
• Restructuring your borrowing as your contracting income evolves.

The honest picture: the right before the rung

The housing ladder is genuinely harder to climb than it was a generation ago. House prices have outpaced wages for decades. Saving for a deposit while facing often crippling rent is difficult. And lenders haven’t always kept pace with how modern working lives and associated income actually look.

But the picture is not as fixed as it can feel. Often with our intercession, lenders are changing their borrowing criteria. New mortgage products are reaching borrowers who were previously excluded. And a broker who understands your income structure can often open doors that a direct application to a high-street lender simply can’t.

You’re not alone if you’ve assumed that buying is out of reach, or that your income structure makes applying for a mortgage too complicated. We help applicants under that misguided impression daily. It’s worth having a quick, confidential conversation before you write off your options. The answer might just surprise you.