First-time buyers top of the agenda for new Economic Secretary
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-10)

New Economic Secretary and Housing Minister will host major banks in the Treasury tomorrow as part of plans to create an economy that works for working people.

- Ministers will call on lenders to make first-time buyers their top priority as the government accelerates mortgage reforms and builds 1.5 million new homes
- Roundtable follows the biggest regulatory overhaul to supercharge home ownership by letting lenders offer more mortgages at over 4.5 times buyers’ income
The new Economic Secretary and Housing Minister will host major high street banks tomorrow (10 September) as the government focuses on increasing homeownership and delivering more affordable housing as part of our Plan for Change.

Lucy Rigby and Matthew Pennycook will call on lenders to make first-time buyers their top priority, taking advantage of the Leeds Reforms announced by the Chancellor in July to help more people with small deposits and low incomes get a mortgage.

Those changes are expected to help up to 36,000 extra first-time buyers secure their own home in the first year alone, while the Financial Conduct Authority is simplifying mortgage lending rules such as affordability checks so that more people can borrow within safe and regulated limits.

Tomorrow’s roundtable follows a meeting last week with building societies, where lenders explained how some of their most innovative products could help thousands more struggling to get on the housing ladder, including safely rolling out no and low deposit mortgages for customers with strong credit ratings.

The Building Societies Association also shared its working on a campaign to raise awareness of these new initiatives, tackling the gap in customer knowledge and helping more buyers realise they can afford homes they thought were out of reach. The government will continue to explore how it can back this effort.

Lucy Rigby, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said:

Helping first-time buyers onto the housing ladder is central to our Plan for Change.

That’s why I’m bringing lenders together to make mortgages more accessible and highlight new options for first-time buyers so more people can finally own their own home.

Robin Fieth, Chief Executive of the Building Societies Association, said:

We welcome the government’s efforts to support first-time buyers and are pleased to see engagement with building societies and other lenders on how to better support people who can demonstrate affordability but have been excluded by outdated regulations. Building societies have always led the way in developing innovative solutions to help people into homeownership, and we are ready to do more.

Mike Regnier, Santander UK CEO, said:

We welcome the opportunity to engage with the Economic Secretary and the Housing Minister on the future of home ownership, building on the work that has already been done to enable lenders to support more homeowners and first-time-buyers realise their homebuying aspirations.

Jatin Patel, Head of Retail Banking at Barclays UK, said:

From changing our affordability calculations, offering larger loans and lending to more people, to introducing novel mortgage products that reduce the need to save for a large deposit, supporting first-time buyers is a key focus for us. The recent changes introduced by the regulators have already helped thousands onto the property ladder who otherwise would not have been able to buy. We welcome engagement with the government on its ambition for first-time buyers, with a view to ongoing collaboration with policymakers on further measures to increase opportunities for home ownership and to unlock mortgage innovation.

Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s Group Director of Mortgages, said:

Collaboration is crucial in driving the UK’s housebuilding ambitions and wider economic growth. The government and regulators showed this to great effect through the recent changes made to high loan to income lending. We responded immediately to relax our lending criteria to support even more first-time buyers through our Helping Hand mortgage. We hope these discussions will help find and establish new and innovative ways of enabling homeownership through a joint approach.

More information
- At the first roundtable on the 3 September senior representatives from the Building Societies Association, Skipton, Yorkshire, Cambridge, Leeds, Bath and Coventry Building Societies were in attendance.
- At the second roundtable on the 10th September senior representatives Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, Natwest, Santander, UK Finance will be in attendance.