Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) and a group of mortgage advisers have set out a series of reforms and innovations that would help make it easier for first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder.

In a new white paper, called Overcoming the challenges facing UK first-time buyers, the newly formed Industry Panel for Financial Advice (IPFA) calls on lenders, housebuilders, MPs and regulators to collaborate to find new ways to help first-time buyers obtain mortgages.

The white paper, which includes contributions from lenders Nationwide and Kensington, seeks to address the three main barriers facing today’s first-time buyers: raising a deposit, affordability pressures and a lack of suitable homes to buy.

The paper follows confirmation of a planned government review of the mortgage market to help first-time buyers, as house prices continue to rise, the cost of living crisis continues, the end of Help to Buy approaches and economic uncertainty.

The IPFA urged all key mortgage and property sector stakeholders to work together to solve the problem, proposing five solutions to help lower barriers to homeownership for first-time buyers.

It suggested protecting and increasing the number of homes being built through the government’s affordable housing schemes. It also recommends protecting the UK’s shared ownership stock is to introduce new laws that limit the proportion of homes that can be ‘staircased’ up to 100% ownership.

The panel also proposed launching an industry-wide campaign to raise awareness of Help to Buy alternatives as well as creating intergenerational mortgages. 

Another proposal focused on a new and innovative approach to high loan-to-value (LTV) lending. IPFA says this would help first-time buyers overcome deposit and affordability challenges, such as split-term mortgages. 

Finally, the panel suggested exploring the idea of ‘low-start’ mortgages, combining capital and interest-only borrowing to help tackle affordability barriers. 

Sesame Bankhall Group head of strategic relationships Stephanie Charman comments: “The problems first-time buyers face are both complicated and varied, meaning we need fresh thinking. That is why I am so excited by the proposals put forward by the Industry Panel for Financial Advice, which I genuinely believe would make an enormous difference if they were to be adopted.”

Sesame Bankhall Group, proposition director Alex Beavis says: “Getting onto the housing ladder has always been difficult but this generation of first-time buyers is facing perhaps the toughest set of challenges yet.”

“The end of Help to Buy, the spiralling cost of living, rapidly rising house prices and huge economic uncertainty have combined to create the perfect storm for a generation of aspiring homeowners. For a lot of young people out there, the idea of one day owning their own home has become a pipe dream. We need to work together to create positive change.”