The government’s Help to Buy schemes have continued their success, supporting over 320,000 people across the UK to buy a home. Over 1 million Help to Buy: ISAs have now been opened by first time buyers, offering government bonuses of up to £3,000 towards the cost of a first home.
Help to Buy statistics released today (Thursday 28 September) show that:
- over 320,000 completions have taken place using one or more of the Help to Buy schemes
- over 275,000 first time buyer households are now on the housing ladder thanks to Help to Buy
- the average house price across the schemes is £196,092, below the average UK house price
- over 90% of completions across the Help to Buy schemes have taken place outside of London
Stephen Barclay, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:
Help to Buy supports people who want to turn their dream of owning a home into a reality. The schemes have now helped over 275,000 first time buyers across the country achieve home ownership.
This government is determined to help hardworking people across the UK get on in life and climb the housing ladder.
Housing and Planning Minister Alok Sharma said:
This government is committed to fixing the broken housing market and to help more people find a home of their own, with the support of a range of low cost home ownership products.
Our Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme continues to make home ownership a reality for thousands of households, right across the country.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation said:
These latest figures are yet another sign that Help to Buy is achieving its objectives to support first time buyers, increase housing supply and boost the economy.
This help for first time buyers is encouraging builders to invest, with permission being granted for more new homes than ever before. This investment by home builders is not just only giving tens of thousands of families a place to call home, it’s generating jobs and driving local economic growth in communities around the country.
More than 130,000 completions have now taken place through the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme, which offers buyers up to 20% in an equity loan so they only need to provide a 5% deposit.
The most completions using the Help to Buy: ISA have taken place in the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, and West Midlands. In total, 83,686 completions have taken place across the UK using the ISA bonus since its launch in December 2015.
The London Help to Buy scheme provides an equity loan of up to 40% for buyers in the capital with a 5% deposit. It has helped over 4,500 buyers in the capital across 33 boroughs purchase their own property between February 2016 and June 2017.
Follow this news feed: HM Government