Almost one in five first-time buyers are prepared to take out mortgages lasting over 35 years in the present interest rate climate, according to figures from UK Finance.

A record 19% of first-time buyers took out mortgages lasting at least 35 years in March this year.

To put this into context, this compares to just 2% in 2005 when these figures were first collected.

The rapid increase in the last 12 months is evident too – as in March just 9% of first-time buyers were taking on mortgages lasting more than 35 years.

While not as extreme as the data relating to FTBs, the trend in favour of 35-year mortgages is seen in the data for all house movers – in 2005 only 1% signed up to 35-year-plus mortgages compared to 8% in March 2023.