{"id":888718,"date":"2026-04-12T09:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/888718\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:26:21","slug":"zero-deposit-mortgages-hit-five-year-high-as-britons-struggle-to-save","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/888718\/","title":{"rendered":"Zero-deposit mortgages hit five-year high as Britons struggle to save"},"content":{"rendered":"

First-time buyers struggling to save for a deposit are increasingly turning to no-deposit mortgages to get on the property ladder. <\/p>\n

The number of these loans is now rising sharply as affordability pressures continue to bite.<\/p>\n

No-deposit mortgage lending has reached its highest level in five years, driven by buyers unable to build up savings for a home. <\/p>\n

In the first nine months of 2025, lenders approved 574 mortgages with no upfront payment, up from 423 in the same period in 2024.<\/p>\n

The figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the Financial Conduct Authority by Compare the Market, highlight the growing strain on would-be homeowners.<\/p>\n

These mortgages, which cover the full value of a property, typically come with higher interest rates and stricter eligibility checks, making them both an opportunity and a risk for first-time buyers.<\/p>\n

Despite rising demand, the market remains limited. Only a handful of lenders, including Barclays, Lloyds and Skipton Building Society, currently offer no-deposit mortgages, with each applying tight criteria for approval.<\/p>\n

Borrowers opting for these mortgages face heightened exposure to negative equity, a situation arising when property prices decline below the outstanding loan balance. <\/p>\n

This risk proves particularly acute for those who have contributed nothing towards their purchase price.<\/p>\n

Lloyds operates its Lend a Hand scheme, which secures lending against family members’ savings. <\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Despite rising demand, the market remains limited<\/p>\n

| GETTY <\/p>\n

Barclays runs a comparable Family Springboard product and additionally provides full-value mortgages through the government’s Right to Buy programme.<\/p>\n

The financial penalty for bypassing a deposit proves substantial over the lifetime of a loan. <\/p>\n

Skipton Building Society currently charges 5.55 per cent on its five-year fixed rate product for those borrowing the full property value, compared with 5.28 per cent for customers providing a five per cent deposit, though this lower rate carries a \u00a3999 fee.<\/p>\n

Calculated across a 30-year mortgage term on a property valued at \u00a3270,000, the borrower without a deposit would pay approximately \u00a329,822 more in interest charges.<\/p>\n

\"Barclays<\/p>\n

Barclays provides full-value mortgages through the government’s Right to Buy programme<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

Skipton imposes restrictions on its lending, excluding new-build flats from eligibility whilst permitting new-build houses, and caps the maximum borrowing amount.<\/p>\n

Charlie Evans from Compare the Market described the figures as indicative of buyers facing difficulties setting money aside.<\/p>\n

“While 100 per cent mortgages can remove the upfront hurdle of a deposit, they often come with higher rates,” he said.<\/p>\n

David Hollingworth from mortgage broker L&C noted: “Lenders have increasingly sought to address the challenges that first-time buyers face.<\/p>\n

\"MortgageCurrent projections suggest around 5.2 million mortgage holders could see their repayments increase by the end of 2028 | GETTY<\/p>\n

Saving for a deposit is certainly not easy, especially alongside higher rents and cost of living.”<\/p>\n

He added that borrowers who manage to gather a deposit will discover a wider selection of mortgage options available to them.<\/p>\n

Geographically, the northwest and southwest of England recorded the greatest uptake of no-deposit lending, whilst Wales and London saw the fewest applications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First-time buyers struggling to save for a deposit are increasingly turning to no-deposit mortgages to get on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,1232,3713,512,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-888718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-money","11":"tag-mortgage","12":"tag-sgg","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116391024437826153","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}