Forty-seven per cent of people who want to buy their own home have never spoken to a lender or mortgage broker to check the options available to them, new research from the Building Societies Association (BSA) has shown.

Among those who have, the research found that 46% have not done so in the last year.

The BSA, which represents all 42 UK building societies as well as seven credit unions, surveyed 1,000 UK adults who are yet to buy their first home for the research.

According to the findings, when shown options available from building societies that require no or low deposits, 67% of those trying to get a foot on the property ladder said they would be able to buy a home sooner than they thought – highlighting a gap between perception and reality.

More than half (59%) of today’s first-time buyers have less than £10,000 in savings and on average think it will take around six and a half years until they can buy their first home, with 32% believing they will never achieve homeownership.

The biggest challenges given were financial, with affordability (64%) and saving a deposit (53%), cited as the main blockers.

Head of mortgages and housing policy at the BSA, Paul Broadhead, said: “Too many aspiring first-time buyers assume homeownership is off the table without ever checking what is actually available to them. This research shows that’s a mistake.

“When people explore the kinds of mortgages building societies offer, many realise they could buy sooner than they thought.

“A simple conversation with a building society or mortgage broker could open doors that you may not realise were there.”

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