Mortgage sales to borrowers with impaired credit histories have increased to their highest levels since 2008, according to analysis of FCA data by Broadstone.
Through 2025, 10,089 mortgages were sold to borrowers with impaired credit histories, representing an increase of 23% from 8,183 in 2024 and marking the first time annual sales exceeded 10,000 since 2008.
The figures exclude internal product transfers, second charge mortgages, further advances and business loans.
The pace of mortgage sales to borrowers with impaired credit histories accelerated during H2 2025 with a total of 5,776 mortgage product sales. This was 24% higher than the 4,657 mortgages sold during H2 2024 and 34% higher than H1 2025 (4,313).
Momentum has continued into 2026, with 5,965 mortgages sold in the first half of the year alone. Q2 2026 accounted for 3,098 sales, the highest quarterly total since Q3 2008 (6,540).
Under the FCA’s reporting criteria, an impaired credit history can include significant arrears on secured or unsecured borrowing, recent County Court Judgments, an Individual Voluntary Arrangement or bankruptcy.
The growing momentum has coincided with changes in the mortgage market intended to improve access and introduce greater flexibility into affordability assessments. In March 2025, the FCA reminded lenders that its rules allowed them flexibility in determining how borrowers should be stress-tested against possible future interest rate increases.
The regulator subsequently introduced measures aimed at improving access for existing borrowers seeking to remortgage with a new lender. Separately, changes were also made alongside the PRA to the application of restrictions on high loan-to-income lending.
Improved data and automated underwriting may also now be enabling lenders to look beyond a historic 'impaired credit' classification and assess the nature, age and severity of previous credit issues alongside the borrower’s current financial position. Transactional data, income patterns and more sophisticated affordability models can help lenders distinguish between temporary historic difficulties and persistent financial vulnerability.
John Barbour, senior director in Broadstone’s banking and credit advisory business, commented: “The acceleration in mortgage sales over the past 12 months suggests that the market is becoming more accommodating to people whose credit histories may previously have prevented them from accessing mortgage lending.
“An impaired credit history does not necessarily mean that someone cannot sustainably afford a mortgage today. Financial difficulties caused by the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the rapid increase in interest rates may have left marks on borrowers’ credit records that do not accurately represent their current circumstances.
“Lenders increasingly have access to the data, analytics and modelling that enable them to take a more nuanced view of risk. Taken alongside growing competition among specialist lenders, greater product availability and flexibility in affordability assessments, this more individualised approach can support broader access to sustainable mortgage lending without compromising consumer protection or lending standards.”
