The research shows that first-time buyers face the toughest challenge securing a mortgage in the current market. Octane Capital found that there were just 595 mortgage products currently available (Jan 2024) to first-time buyers, accounting for just 7% of total mortgage products on the market. 

What’s more, this number has reduced by -3.4% in the last three months alone, the largest reduction of all mortgage product types. 

Home movers have also seen the number of mortgage products available to them fall over the last three months, down 1%, accounting for 35% of all mortgage products. While this is the second smallest proportion of total products available, they are benefitting from a significantly higher level of choice compared to first-time buyers, with some 3,000 mortgage products available to them. 

Those looking to remortgage are benefitting from the greatest level of choice at present, with this number having increased by 1% since October, accounting for 37% of total products. 

However, it’s landlords who have seen the biggest boost to mortgage product availability. In the last three months, the number of buy-to-let mortgage products has climbed by 8.8% to a current total of 1,889.