Seven in ten UK first-time buyers used a mortgage broker, Aldermore survey finds

By Scott Craig

About seven in ten UK first-time buyers used a mortgage broker or independent financial adviser when they bought, according to Aldermore’s First Time Buyer Index 2026.

The survey, run for Aldermore by Opinium between 10 October and 3 November 2025, asked 500 actual UK first-time buyers who had purchased a home in the past two years.

Seventy-one per cent said they used a broker or adviser to find the mortgage for their property.

That is higher than the 64% reported in Aldermore’s Autumn 2024 Index wave.

For historic context, Bank of England Staff Working Paper 1,104 (2024) tracked Product Sales Data for first-time buyer mortgages from 2013-Q2 to 2020-Q4.

It reported that the share of mortgages sold via intermediaries rose from 57% in 2013 to 81% in 2020.

Across the wider regulated mortgage market, not first-time buyers alone, the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) has estimated intermediaries at about 87% of business in 2024, rising toward 89% in 2025 and 91% in 2026.

UK survey and historic channel figures remain the best available backdrop for Scottish buyers, as no Scotland-only first-time buyer broker-share series is published.

Figures are for general information only and are not personal advice on whether to use a broker.

Sources

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