Jon Hall, managing director of Masthaven, says the industry can't ignore how customers feel after a report showed half of homeowners believed they couldn't get a mortgage in the current financial climate.
According to the report by challenger bank Masthaven, the mortgage market is not in tune with modern consumers' evolving needs.
Masthaven’s Game of Loans report found many people surveyed believe they wouldn’t get a mortgage today.
The poll, conducted by Opinium, reveals that both would-be and existing homebuyers are unsure if lenders would support them: 60 per cent of the adults surveyed believe that if they were to buy a home today, it would be hard to get a mortgage.
The bank is concerned that half (50 per cent) of all adults who are homeowners surveyed feel this way; and it’s worried that they may feel like mortgage prisoners.
The new study - comprising two surveys of over 2,000 UK adults, in January and July 2017 - found that almost two in three (65 per cent) people polled believes that getting a mortgage is about "box ticking" not the reality of someone’s situation. This opinion has risen by ten percentage points (from 55 per cent) since the first poll in January.
It also highlights how people feel the mortgage market must adapt to appreciate their changing lives – a large majority (81 per cent) of people surveyed believe lenders should make an effort to understand homebuyers’ individual circumstances. This view is strong among people aged 55 or over (88 per cent), UK homeowners (84 per cent) and parents (82 per cent).
And Mr Hall said: “Just as homes have kerb-appeal to buyers, it seems people have a perceived sense of their own mortgage-appeal to lenders.
"Our report highlights how many people believe they have low or no appeal to mortgage lenders; they have little faith in the market. The industry cannot ignore how customers feel – their perceptions need attention. I believe the industry can adapt, and we’re publishing the report to encourage lenders to look at the new face of home borrowing: ordinary people with normal lives.
"The UK mortgage industry must create products and processes that are fit-for-purpose for society today – a world that’s rapidly evolved and looks different to even just a few years ago.”