Chancellor Rachel Reeves has thrown her weight behind a new campaign to help first-time buyers.

She’s met with senior leaders from 13 mutual lenders to discuss how they help aspiring homeowners navigate challenges such as deposits, complex incomes, and non-traditional work patterns.

Research from the Building Societies Association (BSA) indicates that many first-time buyers could be closer to purchasing a home than they realise.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said they could buy sooner than expected when shown mortgage options from building societies requiring low or no deposits.

Some 47% of prospective buyers have never spoken to a lender or mortgage broker to explore their options. Among those who have, more than half (54%) have not done so in the past year.

Building societies now provide 35% of all first-time buyer lending, with 46% of this going to borrowers under 30, 23% supporting buyers with deposits of less than 5%, and 10% helping first-time buyers aged over 45.

Options across the sector include very low or no deposit mortgages, flexible or extended repayment terms, shared ownership lending, and more personalised underwriting for borrowers whose circumstances do not fit standard automated systems.

Reeves says: “For too long, homeownership has felt out of reach for young people.

“We’re changing that by building 1.5m new homes this Parliament and reforming mortgage rules so more first-time buyers can get the keys to their first home.”

Sarah Harrison, chief executive of the Building Societies Association, adds: “Too many people assume homeownership is out of reach without ever checking what is available to them. Building societies were set up to help ordinary working people buy their own homes, and that hasn’t changed.”