There has been a significant rise in solo first-time buyers, Santander UK reveals, as the effects of the Financial Conduct Authority’s mortgage rule changes begin to take hold.
Santander’s data shows a 13% increase in sole-borrower, first-time buyer mortgage applications received between June and October, compared with January and May 2025.
The bank suggests that recent changes to stress rate and loan-to-income (LTI) criteria introduced earlier in the year, are helping more individuals secure a mortgage on their own.
It found that this year is set to be the year of the solo buyer, with individual applicants outstripping joint applicants consistently for the first time in five years.
Meanwhile, the bank has seen women account for 48% of all individual first-time buyers in 2025, 50 years on from the change in law that allowed women to buy a property on their own.
This represents an increase from 42% of female first-time buyers it recorded in 2015.
The bank data shows a peak in April, when sole applicants accounted for 56% of all new applications received, following its move in March to be the first bank to respond to the FCA’s clarification over stress rates.
The lender calculated at the time that the adjustment in its lending policy could allow potential buyers to access up to £35,000 more in borrowing.
Similarly, August 2025 saw the second highest volume of individual applicants at 53% for the year, following the bank’s adjustment to its loan to income limits.
Santander UK head of homes David Morris says: “We’ve seen a real shift in who’s driving the first-time buyer market. Where once joint applications dominated, more people are now stepping onto the ladder on their own.”
“This year’s mortgage changes have helped to level the playing field for solo buyers, and the data shows that momentum has held firm. It’s clear that confidence among single buyers is growing as lending policy changes bring more of them closer to the homeownership dream.”
Last month, Santander found that older first-time buyers are taking an ever-growing share of the market, with one in five (22%) FTBs in 2025 aged over 40, up from 18% in 2024.
