Help To Buy Helps Over 220,000 People Buy A New Home

The latest Help to Buy statistics show that over 220,000 people have been able to buy a home using the government’s Help to Buy products. The schemes are a central to the government delivering on its commitment to help people into home ownership. People have benefitted from the following Help to Buy schemes: ISA, Shared Ownership, Mortgage Guarantee, Equity Loan and London Help to Buy.The statistics show that:

·         over 220,000 completions have taken place under the schemes

·         over 180,000 first time buyer households are now on the housing ladder after using a Help to Buy Scheme

·         the average house price across the schemes is £191,000, showing that it is those buying smaller properties who are really benefitting

Read more on the Gov UK website.

Help to Buy Scheme – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the Help to Buy scheme to enable first-time buyers to buy property off-plan in order to avoid being priced out by foreign investors.

Gavin Barwell: The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme has enabled over 81,000 households to purchase a new-build home, to March 2016. The Government has committed a further £8.6 billion to the scheme, to provide up to 145,000 further homes by March 2021. Under London Help to Buy, which was launched in February 2016, equity loans of up to 40% are now supporting increasing numbers of first time home buyers. 

Help To Buy... For The Rich

A new mortgage scheme offering huge loans to young homebuyers may be less useful than it seems, experts say. London Help To Buy is supposed to aid aspiring homeowners in the capital, where the average property costs £530,000. Borrowers can get loans from the Government of up to 40 per cent on new-build properties costing a maximum of £600,000. They still need a 5 per cent deposit and will have to qualify for a normal mortgage. To buy a £600,000 house, you would need to save £30,000. The Government lends £240,000 interest-free and you’d have to borrow the remaining £330,000 from a bank or building society. But to qualify for a big mortgage you’d need a huge income — £73,000 a year — more than double the average London salary. Read more on the Daily Mail website.