When it came into office, Labour committed to building 1.5 million new homes over the parliament. Great.
For over 10 years the UK has not built anything like enough new houses. The number completed has averaged 230,000 annually for the last decade. That doesn’t even count replacing existing stock or the extra accommodation needed for smaller family units. And God help the ageing population – while 38% of homeowners aged 55-plus say they would like to move into a bungalow, the number of new home registrations that are bungalows has fallen from 11% in 1990, to 1% in 2024.
The problem is that house building is now heading south again. About 7,000 applications for housing were granted permission between April and June 2025 – the lowest three-month figure since records began in 1979. Indeed, the number of planning approvals represents an 8 per cent collapse compared to the same three months of 2024.
That is a huge part of the reason that house prices are so high, that rents have sky-rocketed, and why it has become so hard for young people to get their foot on the first rung of the housing ladder.
There’s one part of the wider property ecosystem that you can’t lay a finger on – the mortgage industry. There have been times over the last couple of decades that the mortgage sector has not played its part in solving the housing crisis. This is not one of them.
We’re bullet proof at the moment. Unimpeachable.
Mortgage rates are heading lower after Britain’s biggest building society announced it had cut rates. Nationwide lowered rates across some of its deals by up to 0.18% within hours of the Bank of England’s decision to keep base rate on hold at 4% – amid speculation that interest rates won’t be lowered again until next year.
First-time buyers and those looking to buy a new home will particularly benefit from these latest cuts. Nationwide’s lowest two-year fix for a first-time buyer with a 25% deposit will reduce to 4.09% with a £999 fee. On a £200,000 mortgage being repaid over 25 years that would equate to paying £1,066 a month.
High LTV mortgages, including 97%, 99% and even 100% LTV options, have seen a resurgence recently. Lenders such as April Mortgages, Vida Homeloans, Gable Mortgages, Halifax, and Accord Mortgages are leading the charge.
Vida Homeloans’ 3 & Easy mortgages, for instance, offer 97% LTV options and are available to those with complex or second job income and the self-employed and contractors. There is also a potential loan term of up to 45 years, helping borrowers with their affordability.
Accord Mortgages goes further with a 99% LTV mortgage that sweetens the deal with free standard valuation. It is available on loans from £95,001.
April Mortgages has a No Deposit Mortgage, a 100% LTV product available on 10- and 15-year fixed terms. Not only does this help in the present, it can also help in the future – the interest rate falls as the borrower drops into lower LTV bands as they pay down the loan.
Gable Mortgages has two 0% deposit, five-year fixed products: a standard option at 6.29% and a new-build version at 5.99%, with loans up to £1 million.
And Halifax offers the Family Boost mortgage. This guarantor product involves a family member putting 10% of the purchase price of the property into a 3-year fixed term savings account as security. The family member gets their savings back, with interest, when the 3-year term ends – as long as the repayments are up to date.
High LTV mortgages are a pragmatic response to today’s challenges. They offer hope to responsible, mortgage-ready first-time buyers hindered only by the deposit barrier. The mortgage industry is pulling its weight trying to tackle the housing crisis, with lenders facilitating brokers’ efforts to get people on the ladder. Nationwide has just lowered rates. Credit where credit is due. We’re doing our bit.
If only the same could be said of the Government. While Rayner and Reed have talked a good game on reforming the planning system, that’s somewhat irrelevant given the government has failed to create the economic conditions to get builders building.
If we aren’t to keep heading in the wrong direction, the Government must act decisively to boost housebuilding – aligning economic policy with planning reforms to meet the 1.5 million home target. Without addressing high construction costs, labour shortages and economic uncertainty, approvals will keep falling, exacerbating the housing crisis. The mortgage industry is stepping up, but ministers must match this urgency to deliver.
Nick Jones is the mortgage sales and marketing director of Access FS
