Overview
- The regulator outlined four priorities: more flexible products for varied incomes, later‑life lending reforms, stronger protections for vulnerable borrowers, and greater use of data and AI in advice and disclosures.
- It will launch a targeted market study on later‑life lending and review retirement interest‑only requirements to better reflect borrowing needs into older age.
- Simplifying rules is intended to help first-time buyers, self‑employed workers and older homeowners whose earnings and circumstances change over time.
- The FCA said 85% of the market has updated interest‑rate stress tests since March, allowing some buyers to borrow around £30,000 more.
- Recent data cited by the regulator shows record lending to first‑time buyers, with £82.8bn advanced to 390,000 borrowers in the year to September 2025, according to Savills.