Help to Buy creates surge in new homes built and bought

82% of buyers would not have been able to buy without the scheme
43% additional new homes built as a direct result of Help to Buy equity loan
no evidence of Help to Buy driving up house prices

New research has found that 43% of new homes built under the Help to Buy: equity loan scheme since 2013 would have not been built without introduction of the scheme.

A report published today Evaluation of the Help to Buy Equity Loan

Scheme also found that 82% of buyers under Help to Buy: equity loan would not have been able to purchase their home without the scheme helping them meet their ownership aspirations.

click to enlarge

Launched in 2013, the Help to Buy scheme was set up to support hard-working people who could pay a mortgage but struggle to save the deposits required by lenders.

Now more than 130,000 people have now been able to become homeowners since the launch.

The report found no evidence that the scheme has driven up house prices but did find that housebuilders have much more confidence in the housing market.

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said:

Anyone who works hard and aspires to own their own home should have the opportunity to do so and this report shows how the government’s Help to Buy scheme continues to turn those dreams into a reality.

We’ve got the country building again and seen the number of new homes increase by 25% in the last year alone with thousands of people across the country helped by the scheme.

The number of owners assisted by other government schemes is also expected to continue rising through London Help to Buy and the Help to Buy: ISA, which has now been opened by more than 250,000 people.

Confidence in the market

Help to Buy is supporting the country’s economy by getting Britain building again.

The report shows that builders have seen improved confidence in the market because of the scheme and that it has encouraged more lenders to enter the market. It is also helping people move up to bigger homes.

The research found that the average price of homes under the scheme is £212,000, £55,000 below the UK average of £267,000 and that it has brought down the average deposit needed.

Help to Buy: equity loan has been extended to 2021 through a further £8.6 billion and will help up to 145,000 more people take steps towards owning their own home.

Customer satisfaction

93% of buyers were satisfied with the experience of buying a property using the Help to Buy scheme.

On 1 February 2016 London Help to Buy opened its doors, allowing Londoners to buy a home with just a 5% deposit and a mortgage as low as 55% – in one week alone there were 15,000 expressions of interest.

An extension of the successful Help to Buy: equity loan scheme, London Help to Buy offers first-time buyers and second-steppers the opportunity to own a new build home in the capital with a 5% deposit backed by an equity loan of up to 40% from the government.

This is on top of news that a quarter of a million first time buyers have opened a Help to Buy: ISA since its launch on 1 December 2015.

The figure is equivalent to one person opening an account every 30 seconds, or over 3,000 a day.

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