First Time Buyer
Self-employed giving up on home ownership dream
Guest Author:
John FitzsimonsMore than a million people who work for themselves do not believe they will ever be able to buy a home, a study from Kensington Mortgages has revealed.
The research found that more than two-thirds of self-employed people feel their employment status puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to getting a mortgage, while almost half said the likely difficulty in getting a home loan had put them off being self-employed.
Kensington pointed to its affordability tracker which it suggested showed that self-employed borrowers were actually a safer bet than first-time buyers, typically borrowing 28 per cent less than the maximum sum they could get from a lender.
This is in contrast to first-time buyers, who borrow 19 per cent less than the maximum on average.
Mark Arnold, chief executive of Kensington Mortgages, said self-employed borrowers had historically struggled with the various barriers to getting a mortgage, as well as being viewed as more risky by lenders.
He continued: “As a group, the self-employed tend to be more cautious, better savers and a smaller risk to a mortgage lender than being a fully employed person. We’ve found that your average self-employed individual has six months’ worth of savings, relative to full time employees, who tend to only have one month’s savings.”
“It shouldn’t be harder to get a self-employed mortgage, but you do need a good broker to point you in the right direction and talk you through the options.”