The affordability gap for home movers worsened slightly from August to September, according to Mortgage Broker Tools.

The proportion of cases where no lender was willing to provide the loan amount requested by brokers on behalf of their home mover clients increased from 15 per cent in August to 18 per cent in September.

Overall, the affordability gap across all types of buyers remained steady at 16 per cent from August to September

But the company says that borrower affordability has improved since it was at its most stretched in February, when brokers were unable to find a lender willing to offer their clients’ required loan size in 21 per cent of cases.

Affordability for first-time buyers remained steady from August to September with 12 per cent of cases finding no willing lender for the requested amount.

MBT chief executive Tanya Toumadj says: “The only area where the affordability gap grew was for home movers, and this shows the impact of increased asking prices for property on client expectations. “However, even in this segment, the gap was still lower than earlier in the year.

“So, brokers know that there are lenders able to meet the affordability requirements for their clients. 

“The next step is finding them. 

“Brokers who only work with a small number of lenders are much less likely to identify the best one, particularly in the current market where affordability calculators are changing frequently.”