If you wanted evidence of just how important housing remains to our politicians, the last few weeks have provided plenty of it.
We have a government preparing to confirm a new first-time buyer scheme at this month's Budget, while the Labour Party Conference again put housing, home ownership and the ability of younger people to buy firmly on the political agenda.
The ‘new’ scheme, Your First Home, is expected to allow eligible first-time buyers purchasing new-build properties from participating developers to do so with deposits as low as 2.5%, supported by a 20% government-backed equity loan, with the remaining details due to be announced at the Budget.
At Labour Conference, housing featured prominently again, including commitments around council housebuilding, leasehold reform and helping younger people into home ownership through Your First Home.
Look across the political divide and the proposed solutions may be different, but the attention being paid to housing certainly is not. The Conservatives have committed to abolishing stamp duty on primary residences, for example, arguing that doing so would make it easier for people to buy, move and downsize.
The political attention never really disappears
That is why I think we can safely bust the myth that housing is somehow no longer a major government priority. Indeed, successive governments of different political colours have repeatedly intervened in housing and mortgages, whether through Help to Buy, stamp duty changes, mortgage guarantees, planning reforms or various initiatives designed to increase supply and home ownership.
The current government has a commitment – albeit one that it looks highly unlikely to meet - to deliver 1.5 million homes during this Parliament, backed by planning reforms and substantial investment in social and affordable housing, while a permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme has been in place since July 2025 to support the availability of mortgages between 91% and 95% LTV.
We can debate the effectiveness of individual policies, and there will inevitably be differing opinions about the best way to increase housing supply or improve affordability, but the bigger point for our industry is difficult to ignore: housing matters enormously politically and economically, and there is little indication that this attention is going to disappear.
Don't confuse a difficult market with an unimportant one
This point I think is certainly worth remembering when conditions within the mortgage market feel more challenging, as they seem to right now.
Borrowers are having to contend with higher mortgage costs and affordability pressures, while advisers and lenders have been dealing with a market which can change rapidly as rates, funding costs and consumer confidence move.
It would therefore be understandable for some advisory firms to focus predominantly on the difficulties immediately in front of them, but I think owners should also recognise the longer-term opportunity which comes from working within a sector that continues to attract this level of political attention.
Governments want homes built, they want transactions taking place and, regardless of precisely how they attempt to achieve it, they continue looking for ways to help more people access home ownership. That creates opportunities, but of course advisers have to be ready to make the most of them.
Complexity strengthens the advice opportunity
First-time buyers are a particularly good example, because Government intervention does not necessarily make their choices simpler.
Alongside the forthcoming Your First Home scheme, there is the existing First Homes scheme, shared ownership, the permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme and an increasingly broader range of lender propositions aimed at borrowers with smaller deposits or different affordability requirements.
For a first-time buyer who may never previously have dealt with a mortgage, conveyancer, surveyor or estate agent, understanding the available routes and deciding which is appropriate can be difficult.
That should reinforce the value of the adviser rather than diminish it, because somebody needs to understand the options, explain the differences and help the client make decisions based on their own circumstances.
Make more of every opportunity
There is also a broader opportunity which advisers should not overlook. A client who succeeds in buying their first home does not simply need a mortgage, because they will require conveyancing and may also have protection, general insurance and other needs arising from that purchase.
The adviser has already done the difficult work of securing that client and earning their trust – I’ve written recently about the cost of just achieving this and why it’s important to try and recoup that and secure a profit. In that sense there is a very strong argument for providing a more complete service rather than arranging the mortgage and leaving the client to find everything else themselves.
And if you want a regulatory push to do this then you need look only as far as Consumer Duty to show that the FCA is keen for you to do this as well.
So while we do not know what else the Budget will contain, nor should we attempt to guess, but we do know housing will continue to occupy a significant place in political thinking. For advisers, that should be encouraging, but political attention alone will not create a successful advice business.
The opportunity lies in understanding every option available to clients, responding quickly as the market changes and making sure that, when housing policy does create opportunities, advisers have the knowledge and are ready to help clients make the most of them.
