Commercial feature – After a period of stagnation, the housing market and borrowing options for first time buyers are improving again.

A few years ago, before the world-wide recession hit, the average first time buyer could borrow up to five times their salary, and 100% mortgages were available.

Since the collapse of the housing market, which led to many people struggling to pay huge mortgages and some of those people having their houses repossessed, lenders have become more cautious.

For a while, it was near impossible for a first time buyer to get on the property ladder, but the housing market has finally begun to improve, and lenders need to be willing to lend money again, or the housing market is in danger of stagnating.

Some mortgage providers offer special deals to first time buyers, especially those who bank with the provider. The best first time buyer deals are often with the bank you have your current account with. Instead of offering, for example, only 75% mortgages, some banks will offer current account holders 90% mortgages.

This means you only need to raise a lump sum of 10% of the value of the home you want to buy, rather than finding 25%. On a property costing £100k, this is the difference between a lump sum of £10k and £25k. On a property costing £200k, it is the difference between a lump sum of £20k and £50k.

Not just anyone qualifies for these current account holder deals though. It is common for the financial provider to insist you have a minimum of £1000 being paid into your account each month. These deals, therefore, are only available to people earning at least £1000 after tax – which is £15,000 per year before tax.

There are first time buyer options for those people earning under £15k per annum. There are council housing, housing association and government schemes, which offer house-buying opportunities to low-income households.

You dont have to be earning under £15,000 to benefit from these schemes though. The government schemes, for example, are available to households with incomes below £60k.

The schemes available vary across the country, but they include rent-to-buy, where the rent on a property is offered at 80% of the market rate, to allow the renter to save up the other 20% towards the down payment required on the property.

Other schemes include shared ownership, where the buyer pays rent on the part of the property they don’t buy. With shared ownership schemes offering the sale of between 25% and 75% of the house, the first time buyer is able to get up to a 75% mortgage without needing a lump sum.

If you buy a property through a shared ownership scheme, you will have the opportunity to purchase a larger share of the property in the future.

Say, for example, you bought 75% of the property and rented the other 25%. Once you have paid off enough of the mortgage to own 25% of the mortgage outright, you could secure a new mortgage to cover the additional 25% of the property, and still be able to get a 75% mortgage on it.

Whichever path to home ownership you decide to follow, you’ll be one of many first time buyers joining the newly buoyant housing market.

After months of frustration, first time buyers are able to get on the property ladder again, thanks to relaxed lending, and a range of buyer schemes.