UK flagship Help to Buy reaches 131 new home owners a day

The UK government’s flagship Help to Buy schemes have created 131 new home owners every day since April 2013, according to the latest figures to be released.

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said that the data shows Help to Buy is an important part of the government’s efforts to ensure anyone that works hard and aspires to own their own home has the opportunity to do so.

Since the launch of the schemes, over 100,000 people have used the Help to Buy equity loan, mortgage guarantee and NewBuy schemes at a fraction of the deposit they would normally require.

The data also shows that four out of the five of these were first time buyers and 94% of the sales were outside of London, alleviating concerns expressed at the launch of the schemes that they would not reach out to the most needy.

Launched in 2013, the Help to Buy: equity loan and Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee schemes were set up to support people who could pay a mortgage, but struggle to save the deposits required by lenders following the financial crisis.

The Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme offers 95% mortgages for those buying new build homes and the number of new home owners has reached 101,972. Overall since 2010, over 225,000 households have been helped to buy and reserve a new home through government-backed schemes.

‘The figures clearly show the continuing success of the Help to Buy scheme in supporting many credit worthy, hardworking people who want to buy their own home. Our long term economic plan has turned this country around from the one we inherited, now numbers of first time buyers are at their highest since 2007, house building continues to climb and over 225,000 households have been helped to buy or reserve listing since 2010 through government backed schemes,’ said Lewis.

According to Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, Help to Buy continues to drive demand for new homes, and its extension to 2020 is a huge boost. ‘That demand is being met by the house building industry which is increasing output at the highest rate for decades,’ he said.

‘With this support for buyers in place, house builders are planning greater investment in land, labour and supply chains to maintain and sustain this increased level of activity. Delivering more, high quality houses will provide the next generation with decent homes, create jobs and boost local economies across the country,’ he added.

The data also shows that the average price of homes under the scheme is £213,954, well below the £271,000 UK average. The scheme has also brought down the average deposit needed.

Some of the main towns and cities benefiting from the Help to Buy schemes include Leeds with 1,477 sales, Birmingham with 1,301 sales, Wiltshire with 1,242 sales, County Durham with 1,169 sales and Bedfordshire with 1,128 sales.

The government has already announced the extension of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme to 2020, to help thousands more people become home owners and this is on top of plans to provide new Starter Homes, which will be available at a 20% discount to young first time buyers under 40.

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Source: Property News Spain