Your First Home could help reverse first-time buyer shortfall

28 September 2026

28th September 2026, London

The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) has welcomed the government's announcement of Your First Home, saying the new equity loan scheme could provide much-needed support to aspiring first-time buyers struggling to overcome the deposit barrier.

Under the proposals, eligible first-time buyers purchasing a new-build property in England will be able to buy with a deposit of 2.5%, supported by a government-backed equity loan of 20%. The loan will initially be interest-free, with household income and local property price caps used to target support. Further details will be announced at the Budget on 28 October.

IMLA has previously called for a successor to Help to Buy, arguing that targeted intervention could help unlock private investment and support homeownership. It has also highlighted the limits of what lenders and regulatory reform can achieve alone. Higher loan-to-value mortgages, longer mortgage terms, family-assisted products and more flexible approaches to affordability have widened the options available to borrowers, but the deposit remains a significant barrier for many households.

Kate Davies, executive director of IMLA, said:

"We very much welcome the government's decision to introduce Your First Home. IMLA has been calling for targeted support for aspiring first-time buyers for some time. Our research estimates that around 3.5 million households who might historically have been expected to become first-time buyers have failed to do so since the financial crisis, so the scale of the challenge is considerable.

"There are real advantages to building on an equity loan model with which lenders, advisers and developers are already familiar. We also have a decade of experience from Help to Buy to draw on. Restricting support to new-build homes can help stimulate additional supply, but it also narrows the choice available to first-time buyers and risks concentrating the benefits among developers. The design of the scheme therefore needs to ensure that support delivers genuine value for buyers as well as encouraging the building of much-needed new homes.

"The full details will clearly be important, but this is a very encouraging start. If Your First Home helps responsible borrowers overcome the deposit hurdle while giving developers greater confidence to build, it can support not only aspiring homeowners but the housing market and wider economy."