Research on the number and type of housing transactions in recent years suggests that as many as two million potential first-time buyers are locked out of the housing market. Tougher capital requirements on lenders, higher deposit requirements and higher house prices mean that large numbers of people who would have bought since 2007 have been unable to do so.
Experts pointed out that the Help to Buy scheme simply enables people to avoid some of the very regulations that have made obtaining a mortgage more difficult.
Pressure is growing for mortgage lenders to ease the ‘affordability’ requirements that are impeding and delaying mortgage applications.