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Santander says housing market is moving in the right direction, do you agree?

ended 29. May 2026

Do you agree with this comment from Santander?

David Morris, Head of Consumer Lending at Santander UK, said: “Homeownership delivers huge benefits for consumers and the wider UK economy, and while today's backdrop of rising living costs and unemployment means getting onto the ladder for some remains challenging, overall, there are real - and tangible - signs the market is moving in the right direction.

“Recent developments have helped more first-time buyers onto the property ladder - from regulatory changes enabling lenders to reduce affordability rates allowing them to lend more, to the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. At Santander UK, we have been able to support significantly more FTBs in 2026, compared to previous years. Yet, there is of course still more to be done as an industry, with continued innovation in our products and services being critical. Innovation in the market so far has allowed lenders like us to provide more high loan-to-value products, requiring smaller deposits to further support would-be home owners."

"With wages now outpacing house price growth, the dream of owning a home is feeling within reach again for many aspiring buyers.”

  • Do you agree with this comment?
  • Are you seeing the housing market moving in the right direction?
  • Are you seeing more first-time buyers in 2026, compared to previous years?

Responses by this evening

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Michelle LawsonVerified
Director at Lawson Financial
Lenders are evolving policy but I think this is purely driven by lending targets being down as the market has pretty much ground to a halt. Investors aren't buying like they used to and are looking to diversify their portfolios, first-time buyers aren't around in their droves and property prices are largely stagnant. Agents have more housing stock than ever before, landlords are selling due to Renters Rights and other red tape and strangulation. If Santander see this as an improving market this is quite bold rhetoric.
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Richard DavidsonVerified
Mortgage Advisor at onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk
Lenders are working hard to open up the market for first time buyers, with higher loan to income lending, lower deposit deals and family assist products all becoming more available. But the truth on the ground is that confidence has dipped over the last six months, and most of the buyers I am speaking to are not being pulled towards ownership, they are being pushed out of the rental market.

Rents have become expensive, tenancies feel less secure, and finding a property to rent in the first place is genuinely difficult. For those still at home with parents the pressure is not the same, which is often where the 'Bank of Mum and Dad' steps in to give them the deposit boost they need to make the move.
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Dariusz KarpowiczVerified
Director at Albion Financial Advice
Wages outpacing house prices sounds reassuring until you meet the buyers actually trying to get a mortgage. The gap between what people earn and what homes cost is still wide in most areas, and high rates make the monthly numbers brutal. Bigger income multiples, lower deposits and 40-year terms help, but they stretch affordability rather than fix it.
Lenders are loosening policy partly because targets are down and the market has slowed. Most first-time buyers I see aren't being pulled towards ownership; they're being pushed out of renting by rising rents and shaky tenancies. The Bank of Mum and Dad is doing the heavy lifting, not the recovery.