The government’s Help to Buy Schemes continue to be used by home buyers keen to get into the housing market. 2017 was an busy year with over 32,000 new-build homes purchased using the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme. This reflects a 23% increase over the previous year.
In addition to Help to Buy Equity Loans, the government also introduced the Help to Buy ISA Savings Scheme two years ago and the attractive incentives available to first-time buyers has not been lost on many.
In total, some 350,000 people have now used one of the various government initiatives introduced to help people onto the property ladder. Of course, there are other benefits, including the support of the housing market and house builders in particular.
The Help to Buy Scheme helped buyers by lending up to 20% of their new home’s value (40% in London) by way of a government backed loan at zero interest for the first five years!
This has helped many in the South East to access the housing market and benefit from a growth in house prices. Others in areas with less buoyant markets may not have benefited too as great a degree and as interest starts to be charged on the first loans in 2018, it will be interesting to see how this affects the market.
The figures seem to illustrate that house prices in the first-time buyer sector are rising faster than wages, which would seem to suggest that the scheme is, in large part, responsible for the support of the housing market and the inflation of prices in this sector. With over £35 billion worth of property now subject to support from over £7 billion worth of government loans, the impact on the market is certainly not insignificant.
For more details see our Help to Buy Loan Scheme page.
For more information or to speak to a Help to Buy mortgage expert, contact us on 01628 507477.
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