The government has today released data detailing the success of its various Help-to-Buy schemes.
According to today’s report, there have been a total of 458,000 homeowners that have benefitted from a foot up on the ladder using the Help to Buy initiative, 88% of which have been first-time buyers (FTBs).
This equates to 1.2m Help to Buy: ISAs, offering bonuses of up to £3,000 for FTBs on top of their personal savings. The average house price purchased through the scheme sits at £201,881, so rather unsurprisingly, just 7% of those using the scheme have done so within London.
John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:
“We want to help as many people as possible experience the fantastic feeling of pride you get when you collect the keys to your first home. That’s why we offer the special Help to Buy: ISA for them to save, cut their Stamp Duty, and introduced a new Help to Buy Equity Loan to run until March 2023.”
The North West and Yorkshire are home to the largest number of home completions using the Help to Buy: ISA, with 169,980 homes bought with its help since it launched in December 2015.
In London, 13,697 buyers across the capital have benefited from the 5% deposit.
However, there are still question marks around whether or not the scheme has delivered on the previous promises of the government, and whether it does more harm than good by increasing the number of buyers while they fail to deliver the housing stock needed to satisfy this hunger.
Our CEO and founder, Andy Soloman, commented on today’s figures
“This is positive news on the face of it, but many will be forgiven for remaining sceptical of the government’s Help to Buy initiatives.
While these schemes are implemented with good intentions, they inadvertently exacerbate the current housing crisis by fuelling demand in a market where the government is failing to address the issue of supply.
For those aspirational buyers lucky enough to secure a property it has, at least, enabled them to take that first step on the ladder. But as prices continue to increase as a result of this heightened buyer demand, the number of those able to utilise these schemes will diminish due to the restrictive thresholds – as demonstrated by the minuscule number of sales attributed to London buyers.”
