The Intermediary – January 2026 - Flipbook - Page 19
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
Opportunities
for lenders and
borrowers in 2026
F
or the year ahead, there
is a sense of momentum
across the lending and
mortgage market. The
demand is there. The
government has an
aspiration for growth. Lenders want
to lend. For brokers, this means
opportunity. Now we just need all
those stars to align.
The last few years have tested both
borrowers and lenders. However,
confidence is beginning to return, and
we should use that stability to improve
how lending works in practice,
making decisions that beer reflect
real affordability, cuing unnecessary
application friction, and widening
access for customers.
One of the most encouraging
developments is the Financial
Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) clearer
reform agenda for the mortgage
market. Its roadmap signals a real
intent to widen access for first-time
buyers and underserved borrowers
while also addressing later-life
lending, improving disclosure and
advice through innovation and
strengthening support for vulnerable
consumers. Combined with a growing
appetite across lenders and brokers to
innovate, this could start to make a
real difference in 2026.
If the rule review creates space for
more flexible, well-underwrien
lending, the industry should use
it to improve real outcomes, not
by weakening standards but by
modernising how affordability and
eligibility are evidenced.
Innovation must be
practical
We’re seeing a growing appetite across
lenders and brokers to challenge the
status quo, including products that
would have seemed ‘le field’ a few
years ago. But innovation must be
practical not performative. It should
solve a real customer problem and be
carefully balanced with risk, keeping
lending sustainable over the long
term. What maers is what works
consistently over time.
One of the clearest examples
is affordability and whether we
recognise the payment behaviour
customers are already demonstrating.
Many renters demonstrate, month
aer month, that they can manage
payments equal to, or even higher
than, a typical mortgage. Yet those
same payments don’t always carry
enough weight in lending decisions.
Rental payments should be treated as a
critical input into affordability.
If we’re serious about widening
access, we need to get beer at
recognising financial resilience where
it already exists. That also means
being open to alternative data streams
that can evidence responsible money
management while reducing the
amount of paperwork customers are
asked to upload and re-upload. The
goal isn’t to remove checks, it’s to
remove friction that adds lile value.
Personalisation will be an important
part of that. A market that works well
is one where there’s a credible path for
more “unique but viable” customer
situations and where brokers can see
that path clearly.
Building stability
Even the best lending ideas struggle
to land in an environment that feels
volatile. Greater market and fiscal
stability would go a long way towards
rebuilding confidence across the
housing sector for buyers, lenders, and
developers alike.
Alongside that, the industry needs
a more joined-up approach across
the entire home-buying journey. It
AARON SHINWELL
is chief lending officer at
Nottingham Building Society
will take a genuine collective effort
from estate agents, brokers, lenders,
conveyancers, and regulators to tackle
customer challenges together, rather
than each part of the process trying to
solve them in isolation.
Housing supply
Of course, none of this works without
supply. The lack of homes built
specifically for first-time buyers
remains the single biggest barrier to
home ownership in 2026 and beyond.
The challenge here also reached a
low, with data showing housebuilding
slowed considerably in 2025 rather
than ramped up, with builders, like
seemingly everyone, being affected by
tough conditions, making it difficult
to keep up with the demand.
Without meaningful progress here,
even the most innovative lending
solutions can only go so far.
2026 outcomes
Ultimately, I’d like to see 2026
remembered as a year where we
focused less on rigid process and more
on good outcomes - using policy,
data, and broker insight to recognise
different income paerns, different
life stages and different paths to
financial resilience. I’d like to think
2026 will be the year the industry
unlocks the power of data to make
the home buying journey easier for
those who have previously found it
more challenging - from applications
through to opening the front door.
If we can innovate responsibly, use
data more thoughtfully and work
together across the sector, 2026 can be
the year we genuinely widen access to
home ownership. ●
January 2026 | The Intermediary
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