Covers a range of topics relating to mortgages and the wider housing market.
Covers issues relating to savings accounts and payments.
Covers developments in conduct of business regulation
Covers issues relating to the corporate governance and constitution of building societies.
People related matters such as talent development, apprenticeships and diversity.
Internal and external accounting assurance and matters relating to tax.
The regulation and supervision of firms to ensure their safety and soundness under the remit of the Prudential Regulation Authority.
A new legal aid scheme to support borrowers at risk of repossession (member only content).
Building societies and credit unions are customer-owned mutual organisations. Their culture is focused on their members and communities and this influences their day to day decisions.
A wide range of statistics relating to the UK mortgage and housing markets.
Research, analysis and guidance about our members and the issues that affect them.
Retail savings data including net receipts and deposits, ISAs and interest rates.
Operational and financial information about building societies. Includes AGM & financial results and remuneration details.
Submission and publication deadlines for 香蕉福利直播 data and reports.
Economic outlook weakens as household finances take a hit and unemployment rises
News and views on topical issues from the 香蕉福利直播 and guests.
View our latest press releases and comment here.
The 香蕉福利直播's quarterly magazine covers whats happening in the world of building societies, credit unions and the wider financial services sector.
A quarterly survey that assesses consumer sentiment regarding the UK property market.
View biographies and download photos of the 香蕉福利直播's key spokespeople
香蕉福利直播 speeches from events and seminars
香蕉福利直播 experts often appear as guests on industry podcasts.
View the latest webinars, training and other events open to members, associates and other stakeholders
View our latest 香蕉福利直播 Annual Conference and comment here.
View our latest Past events & summaries and comment here.
Learn how to promote your event to the 香蕉福利直播's membership.
Women's Leadership Programme - "The Becoming Journey庐" (12 September - 3 December 2025)
Find factsheets on mortgages, savings and the building society sector.
Track building societies that no longer exists and get a link to its successor's website.
Find mortgage instructions and specific requirements setting out individual building society policies.
The UK Savings Week campaign aims to get people engaged in saving.聽
Toolkits to develop Workplace Savings are available here.
Here you can find our publications, responses to consultation documents, mortgage instructions, statistics and sector job vacancies.
Find out more about the 香蕉福利直播 and the sector.
Contact details for each of our 49 members.聽聽聽聽聽聽
Our Associate members include a wide range of companies from insurers,聽banks, accountants, solicitors, and other business suppliers to 香蕉福利直播 members.
The National Credit Union Forum (NCUF) is the Credit Union Committee of the 香蕉福利直播.
Find out how building societies have purpose beyond profit
Vacancies for senior management, executive and other positions at the 香蕉福利直播 and its member organisations
Find out the wide range of benefits of joining the 香蕉福利直播 as an associate member.
Details of the 香蕉福利直播 pension scheme
Find out about this small charitable trust and the process for applying for charitable grants
The Building Societies Association is the voice of the UK's building societies.
A thriving UK housing market is dependent on first-time buyers being able to buy their first home. Radical action is needed to ensure this happens.
Article first published in .
I’ve talked a lot about first-time buyers in my comment piece over the years, but I make no apology for returning to the topic again this month, as it is impossible to have a properly functioning housing market without ensuring those looking to buy their own home can take their first step into homeownership.
Unless we keep focusing on the barriers faced by first-time buyers and take radical action, then we’ll never get to a point of a thriving UK housing market. But we can’t just look at current first-time buyers. Help provided today must also be sustainable and ensure homes and mortgages are affordable for the next generation of homebuyers. Hence the need for a long term strategy that I keep banging on about.
Balancing supply and demand has been my mantra for as long as I can remember. We have seen many interventions that support demand – schemes such as Mortgage Guarantee, Help-to-Buy, LISAs and Stamp Duty holidays – but very little on housing supply, you could argue help-to-buy did contribute to supply, but alone, not in sufficient numbers. The result has been house price increases way above wage growth, leading ultimately to greater affordability issues for future new first-time buyers. Effectively, whilst they have initially helped some first-time buyers, they have just kicked the challenge down the road.
Alongside these one-sided, demand-only, interventions, since the financial crisis tightening of regulation has been far more towards providing financial stability than supporting first-time buyers. The regulatory changes have resulted in many would-be homebuyers being excluded from getting an affordable mortgage. We have seen UK Finance statistics showing that almost a quarter (23%) of first-time buyer mortgages are now taken out over 35 years, compared to just 9% at the end of 2021, just before the Bank of England started to increase the Bank Rate. This is clear evidence that the tighter regulatory focus and monetary policy means that for many new homebuyers the only way to buy their first home is by stretching the mortgage term.
Whilst there are many examples of building societies responding to the challenges faced by today’s first-time buyers with innovative products and services that fit within the regulatory framework – such as Skipton’s 100% mortgages and Cambridge’s Rent to Home scheme, amongst many others – more radical and long-term reform is needed. And this reform needs to go beyond those at the start of their homeownership journey. With the growing length of mortgage terms, greater flexibility of lending into retirement must also be considered.
At the 香蕉福利直播 we have commissioned property expert Neal Hudson to review the housing market with a wider lens. He will consider the balance between any support given to first-time buyers and the effects of that support on the wider housing market, the economy, and future homebuyers.
The full report will be released next month, but his initial findings highlight a need to strike a balance between financial stability and enabling access to homeownership. Initial suggestions include changing regulations to allow mortgages to be more flexible, such as allowing more part-repayment, part-interest-only lending with the flexibility to shift between them and reviewing the 15% cap on lending at 4.5 times income.
There isn’t a silver bullet that will fix the broken housing market, but it is time for radical, long-term thinking and interventions that not only help today’s first-time buyers, but that don’t fail future generations.
Find out more: View the initial findings from the report
With increasing regulatory focus on the safety and soundness of Credit Unions, it is crucial that you understand the regulator’s risk appetite expecta...
Featuring many of the brilliant speakers from the Building Societies Conference, with plenty to inspire, challenge, and empower.
The objective of the course is to introduce participants to the role of Treasury, providing an introduction to financial markets, yield curves and how...
After a successful in-person event in 2024, and responding to delegate feedback, this year's annual update will once again take place in Birmingham. ...
Responding to today's announcement from the Bank of England, Ruth Doubleday, Head of Prudential Regulation at the 香蕉福利直播 said: "The 香蕉福利直播 welcomes the c...
A free webinar hosted by 香蕉福利直播 Associate, Quadient We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming thought leadership webinar: "Navigating Uncertaint...
Open letter to the Chancellor highlighting the importance of retaining the Cash ISA limit
The 香蕉福利直播 welcomes the announcement