80% Of Government Housing Funding Is On Private Housing

Analysis of government figures by the CIH shows projected government investment through to 2020/21 will funnel £32bn into private programmes and £8bn into programmes for shared ownership and sub-market rent. The largest investment in private housing is the £12.5bn bill for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme. Help to Buy ISAs, the Help to Buy guarantee scheme, and private rented sector guarantees cash make up the remainder of the funding. This investment is in the form of loans and guaranteed debt, rather than direct government spending. Its investment in affordable housing comprises mainly £4.3bn of grant under the Affordable Homes Programme. Read more on Inside Housing.

Help To Buy Mortgage Guarantee Deposits Dip below £9K

The size of the average deposit needed to access the property ladder fell below £9,000 in September, according to Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) – but only for those using the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme (HTB2). Home buyers using the HTB2 scheme were able to access the property ladder with average deposits of just £8,974 in September, according to new data from the company. This is a 3% decrease since August – when the average HTB2 deposit was £9,229 – and significantly lower than September’s purchase market average of £67,929 (-87%). Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Private Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to encourage the delivery of more private-rented sector accommodation.

Kris Hopkins: This Government is committed to a bigger and better Private Rented Sector which is why, following the Montague review, we have put in place the £1 billion Build to Rent fund, the £10 billion Housing Guarantees schemes, and the Private Rented Sector Taskforce.

OBR Cool on Help to Buy Scheme

The Government’s Help to Buy scheme will not have a major impact on house building, the Office for Budget Responsibility has said. Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, the OBR’s Steve Nickell instead warned the scheme, which sees the Government offering guarantee for parts of buyers’ mortgages, would drive up prices in the short term.”  Mr Nickell said the scheme might help the situation “a bit”, but would not significantly boost the market.