Help to Buy creates 131 new homeowners a day
The Help to Buy schemes have created 131 new homeowners every day since April 2013, says Housing Minister Brandon Lewis.
Mr Lewis today (18 June 2015) said the figures show 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.
Four out of the 5 of these were first-time buyers – and 94% of the sales were outside of London.
Creating new homeowners daily
Housebuilding and helping aspiring homeowners are important parts of the government’s long-term economic plan.
Launched in 2013, the Help to Buy: equity loan and Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee schemes were set up to support hard-working taxpayers who could pay a mortgage, but struggle to save the deposits required by lenders following the financial crisis.
Today, along with the government’s Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme – which offered 95% mortgages for those buying new-build homes – the number of new home owners has reached over 100,000 (101,972).
This means each day an average 131 new homeowners are created through the Help to Buy since April 2013.
And since 2010, over 225,000 households have been helped to buy and reserve a new home through government-backed schemes.
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said:
Today’s 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.
131 new homeowners a day have now been created through the scheme, enabling them to buy with a fraction of the deposit they would normally require.
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, housebuilding continues to climb and over 225,000 households have been helped to buy or reserve property since 2010 through government-backed schemes.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation said:
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.
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.
Helping people across the UK
Help to Buy is helping people across the UK achieve their goals of owning a new home, with almost all competitions outside of London.
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.
Today’s figures show the government schemes are helping every part of the country with some of the main towns and cities benefiting from the Help to Buy schemes being:
- Leeds – 1477 sales
- Birmingham – 1301 sales
- Wiltshire – 1242 sales
- County Durham – 1169 sales
- Bedfordshire – 1128 sales
The government has already announced the extension of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme to 2020, to help thousands more people become homeowners.
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.
Further information
Help to Buy equity loan statistics were published today.
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