Banks not keeping pace with change, says Trussle founder

Ishaan Malhi’s digital mortgage broker Trussle co-hosted a panel at the Tory Party Conference yesterday.

Yesterday, at the Conservative party's annual conference, a panel of experts debated the UK’s ‘broken’ housing market.

It’s a hot topic for fintech and alternative finance firms. A host of online lenders in the property space see an opportunity to support small-to-medium sized housebuilders, helping the government to hit its target of building 300,000 new homes a year.

As many if not more proptech specialists are trying to help ‘generation rent’ to get on the property ladder. The government recently announced the three winners of its Rental Recognition Challenge. Bud, Credit Ladder and RentalStep claimed the £2m prize pot. The challenge was set up to help young people get onto the property ladder in the face of rising house prices, high rental costs and thin credit files. Both CreditLadder and Bud plan to use tech to make rental payments count towards a young person’s credit rating.

At yesterday’s conference, housing minister Kit Malthouse MP pulled no punches in his verdict on the property market. “Something has gone wrong when your kids have to wait for you to die before they can get on the property ladder,” said the minister.

The panel also featured deputy London Mayor for housing and residential development James Murray, co-founder of the Homeowners Alliance Anthony Browne, commissioning editor of The Times Carol Lewis and Ishaan Malhi, CEO of Trussle. The session was joint-hosted by Trussle and Bright Blue, a think tank.

Murray said that 80 per cent of newly built homes are affordable to only 8 per cent of London renters. He proposed a range of measures to improve the situation, including encouraging small housing developers to diversify their developments.

Malhi, meanwhile, slammed incumbent banks, weighing in with the following: “The banks have not kept pace with how society is evolving. Many young people struggle to get on the ladder and still not enough is being done from the self-employed perspective.”

“Some people can afford the actual mortgage payments, but it’ll take them an average of nineteen years to save up the deposit. Using data from across the industry about which products consumers are applying to and their eligibility is key to building innovative and improved mortgage propositions, which will make home ownership accessible for all, whatever their circumstances.”

“Everyone should be able to dream of owning a home. But with homes increasingly unaffordable and mortgages not easily accessible, home ownership is becoming more difficult for the current generation. Both the Government and the industry need to address this today.”