The council has spent several weeks gathering evidence from experts through its ‘First Time Buyers Commission’, reports Jade Lennon

Enfield Council has released a report looking at how to combat the barriers preventing first-time buyers from purchasing a home.

Rising prices remain the main factor in first-time buyers struggling to get on to the property ladder, as London’s housing crisis continues.

Announcing the launch of the council-led First-Time Buyers Commission report, Rebuilding the Ladder, cabinet member for housing Ayten Guzel said: “Too many hard-working people are doing everything right. They are working, saving and planning for their future. Yet, they are finding the door to home ownership closed.

“Through this commission, Enfield Council has brought together experts from across housing, finance and government to develop practical solutions that could genuinely shift the dial for first-time buyers.

“While the work started here in Enfield, the issues facing aspiring homeowners are shared across London and the south-east. We hope this report helps drive the national conversation about how we restore the dream of home ownership.”

According to the UK House Price Index, part of the government’s Land Registry, the average house price in Enfield is £472,275, as of January 2026 – a rise of £58,428 (14%) compared with the average value of £413,847 in January 2020.

While average prices in Enfield are lower than the average for London as a whole, they are still well above the national average, leaving many low and middle-income households priced out of home ownership.

Led by the council with support from London homes developer Pocket Living and a raft of other industry experts, the First-Time Buyers Commission gathered evidence across several hearings in the first few months of this year.

The resulting report now makes proposals aimed at helping first-time buyers get on the property ladder.

These include new deposit and equity loan schemes to help buyers raise deposits; mortgage lending reforms to improve borrowing access; expanding discount market sale and shared ownership housing; introducing rent-to-buy models that allow tenants to save towards ownership; and greater flexibility in housing supply to unlock homes further up the property chain.

Craig Carson from Barratt London and Paul Rickard from Pocket Living proposed changes to affordable housing criteria, boosting access to homes available at discounted market rates. They highlighted research by Barratt Redrow revealing 43% of families in the private rental sector across the UK could access discounted market homes, but in Enfield, the figure is just 2%.

However, with income caps removed, the number of renting Enfield families able to access such homes would rise to 8%. This, they claim, would “bridge the gap for the ‘squeezed middle’” – people who cannot access mortgages at present but also fail to qualify for affordable housing.

Shaun Bailey, a Conservative member of the London Assembly and House of Lords, proposed a rent-to-buy model. This would allow households to move into a new build with no deposit and a rent set at roughly 80% of market rates. The property can then be purchased after renting for more than years, providing a smooth transition to becoming a homeowner.

“Rising rents make saving difficult, and many families who could sustain a mortgage cannot accumulate the capital needed to buy,” Bailey writes in the report. “A well-designed rent-to-buy model addresses this directly by removing the initial hurdle while preserving a clear pathway to full ownership.”

Read the full Rebuilding the Ladder report online:
Visit enfield.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/126681/First-time-buyer-report-2026-Housing.pdf

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