Covers a range of topics relating to mortgages and the wider housing market.
Covers issues relating to savings accounts and payments.
Covers developments in conduct of business regulation
Covers issues relating to the corporate governance and constitution of building societies.
People related matters such as talent development, apprenticeships and diversity.
Internal and external accounting assurance and matters relating to tax.
The regulation and supervision of firms to ensure their safety and soundness under the remit of the Prudential Regulation Authority.
A new legal aid scheme to support borrowers at risk of repossession (member only content).
A wide range of statistics relating to the UK mortgage and housing markets.
Research, analysis and guidance about our members and the issues that affect them.
Retail savings data including net receipts and deposits, ISAs and interest rates.
Operational and financial information about building societies. Includes AGM & financial results and remuneration details.
Submission and publication deadlines for BSA data and reports.
Inflation falls to lowest level in almost 3 years but underlying components remain high. As such, MPC unlikely to vote to cut Bank Rate in June.
News and views on topical issues from the BSA and guests.
View our latest press releases and comment here.
The BSA's quarterly magazine covers whats happening in the world of building societies, credit unions and the wider financial services sector.
A quarterly survey that assesses consumer sentiment regarding the UK property market.
View biographies and download photos of the BSA's key spokespeople
BSA speeches from events and seminars
View the latest webinars, training and other events open to members, associates and other stakeholders
View our latest BSA Annual Conference and comment here.
View our latest Past events & summaries and comment here.
Learn how to promote your event to the BSA's membership.
Understanding cyber security risks and preparing for an attack (24th September 2024)
Find factsheets on mortgages, savings and the building society sector.
Track building societies that no longer exists and get a link to its successor's website.
Find mortgage instructions and specific requirements setting out individual building society policies.
The UK Savings Week campaign aims to get people engaged in saving.
Toolkits to develop Workplace Savings are available here.
Here you can find our publications, responses to consultation documents, mortgage instructions, statistics and sector job vacancies.
Find out more about the BSA and the sector.
Contact details for each of our 49 members.
Our Associate members include a wide range of companies from insurers, banks, accountants, solicitors, and other business suppliers to BSA members.
View biographies and download photos of our key spokespeople
Vacancies for senior management, executive and other positions at the BSA and its member organisations
Find out the wide range of benefits of joining the BSA as an associate member.
The Building Societies Association is the voice of the UK's building societies.
Paul Broadhead, Head of Mortgage & Housing Policy at the BSA, takes a look at the hurdles in the first-time buyer market, and how the Government and lenders are providing support.
Throughout 2023 we have seen a drop in house prices and a decline in mortgage approvals compared to last year. But a closer look at the numbers suggests that the first-time buyer market has held up stronger than that of second-plus steppers.
There are of course still big hurdles for today’s first-time buyers. In the 15 years that the BSA has run the quarterly Property Tracker, raising a deposit has been the biggest barrier to buying a home (apart from a short period during the Covid pandemic when job security became the most significant obstacle). In the last 12 months, however, there has been a significant change, with the affordability of mortgage payments proving to be an obstacle for almost three quarters (74%) of first-time buyers, compared to raising a deposit which is affecting 63%¹. This is not surprising when you see that the ratio of house prices to earnings across the UK is 6.4, rising to 10.1 in London. Forty years ago the ratio was around 3, rising to about 4 in London. Compounding this has been double-digit inflation figures, leading to a spiralling cost of living which has put further financial pressure on household incomes.
The government has provided some much-needed support to first-time buyers over the years, with a variety of schemes such as Shared Ownership, First Homes, Help-to-Buy, the Mortgage Guarantee, Help-to-Build and Rent-to-Buy, alongside other incentives, such as Stamp Duty holidays. These, to varying degrees, have given a boost not only to first-time buyers, but to the market in general – as a healthy first-time buyer market is essential to maintaining a functioning housing market.
Throughout their history, building societies and other mortgage lenders have remained alert to the changing opportunities and struggles facing first-time homebuyers, and have responded with products and innovations to support them. We have seen many recent examples of specifically targeted support, as lenders respond to today’s affordability issues.
Skipton Building Society’s 100% mortgage lending aims to help the significant proportion of would-be homebuyers who find raising a deposit a struggle. They remain the only lender to operate in this space. The Cambridge Building Society has also aimed its support at those struggling to save the hefty deposits needed to buy a home, with its unique Rent to Home scheme.
Leeds Building Society has focused some of its attention on the availability of homes for first-time buyers, by withdrawing from second home mortgage market. They have also invested in their scheme with Credit Reference Agency, Experian, to give a boost to the credit score of hopeful homebuyers, which can make the difference between getting a mortgage offer and not.
More generally we have seen the industry review some of their basic criteria, such as loan to income ratios and the length of mortgage terms available. Whilst traditionally a first-time buyer would take a 25 year mortgage term, since the financial crisis in 2008 we have seen longer terms on offer to help increase mortgage affordability. Today the majority (78%) of first-time buyers take a mortgage term over 25 years, with 22% taking a term over 35 years.
For decades, many first-time buyers from the wealthiest of families have received support from parents and grandparents, the so called Bank of Mum and Dad (BoMaD). However, in recent years, BoMaD has grown significantly, with £8.8 billion of assistance provided in 2022, effectively making it the 10th largest mortgage lender in the UK!
BoMaD is no longer the silver spoon provided just to those from more affluent backgrounds, family support is now given to almost half (46%) of all first-time buyers supporting the purchase of 170,000 properties. And it’s a growth area, as it is expected to increase to 61% this year.
To put this family support into context, the government’s Help to Buy equity loan scheme has supported 387,000 house purchases over 10 years.
So what does all this tell us, and how does it ensure we maintain an active and vibrant first-time buyer market in the future.
There’s no doubt that government schemes have a useful role to play, and have been helpful to the market. It was, therefore, good to hear Michael Gove, the MP responsible for housing, earlier this year pledge to prioritise first-time buyers over those with multiple properties, speculative buyers or those who wish to convert family homes into holiday lets. And we should welcome the Labour Party’s commitment to giving ‘first dibs’ to homes in new housing developments with a government-backed mortgage guarantee scheme if they are to come into power next year.
But the market can often be better served with bespoke innovations from mortgage lenders. These provide much more targeted support to homebuyers, responding to specific, local issues rather than the blanket approach afforded by government schemes. It is crucial that lender innovations continue to focus on supporting the next generation of homeowners.
And of course, the financial support of BoMaD will continue to be needed to oil the wheels of all the schemes and innovations.
¹ Property Tracker survey - https://www.bsa.org.uk/information/publications/bsa-property-tracker
This article was first published in Mortgage Finance Gazette
A free event hosted by Kerv Join us to discover how you can be taking advantage of the new consumer duty legislation to make your customer experien...
The BSA strongly supports the principle of charging a fee to CMCs.
Our response to FCA GC23-2