Help to Buy schemes help over 80,000 people buy a home

Posted on Monday, March 9, 2015

The Help to Buy equity loan and mortgage guarantee schemes have helped more than 80,000 people buy a home.

Almost all Help to Buy purchases (94%) were outside London. Over half used the equity loan scheme, available only on new-build.

Eight in ten who used the schemes were first-time buyers, paying an average of £185,000.

Those using the equity loan scheme paid an average of £212,000 – considerably more than those who used the mortgage guarantee, available on both new and secondhand homes, who paid an average of £156,000.

The figures were announced yesterday by the Government, which is closing the mortgage guarantee part of the scheme next year.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said Help to Buy has led to more first-time buyers being able to get on the housing ladder without help from the so-called Bank of Mum and Dad.

It said that last year, 48% of first-time buyers bought without help, up from 34% in 2011.

The CML said that future prospects for growth in lending to first-time buyer may be limited without further extension of government support.

* The supply of homes eligible under the Help to Buy schemes has fallen 7.4% in the last year while prices have risen 5.5%, Zoopla has reported.

It analysed homes for sale at up to the scheme’s cap of £600,000.

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