Over 350,000 people benefit from support to buy their own home
Help to Buy schemes also help more than 300,000 first time buyers onto the housing ladder.
New statistics show that over 350,000 people across the UK have now used the government’s Help to Buy schemes to help them cross the threshold and buy their own home. First time buyers continue to flock towards the Help to Buy: ISA, with more than 1.1 million now opened, offering government bonuses of up to £3,000 on top of their savings.
Help to Buy statistics released today (Thursday 11 January) show that:
- over 350,000 completions have taken place using one or more of the Help to Buy schemes
- over 300,000 first time buyer households are now on the housing ladder thanks to Help to Buy
- over 93% of completions across the Help to Buy schemes have taken place outside of London
John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:
This government is dedicated to helping current and future generations buy their own home. The government’s Help to Buy schemes has helped make that dream a reality for more than 350,000 people so far, with the ISA currently being used by many more future buyers to save towards that goal.
Help to Buy is part of our wider plan to tackle the housing challenge and ensure the next generation can get on and climb up the housing ladder.
Housing Minister, Dominic Raab, said:
This government is committed to helping more people get on the housing ladder, with the support of a range of low cost home ownership products.
Thanks to our Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme the dream of home ownership continues to become a reality for thousands more households across the country.
More than 140,000 completions have now taken place through the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme, which offers buyers up to 20% of a newly built home’s costs so they only need to provide a 5% deposit.
95% of first time buyers who pay stamp duty will also benefit from the Stamp Duty changes announced in the Budget. The government has abolished stamp duty altogether for first-time buyer purchases up to £300,000, and made this relief available for the first £300,000 of properties worth up to £500,000, providing help for people in higher value areas.
The Chancellor also announced that an average of 300,000 homes built each year will be delivered by the mid-2020s through new financial support and planning reforms. Together, this government action means annual housing supply is on track to reach to its highest level since 1970 by the end of the Parliament.
The most completions using the Help to Buy: ISA have taken place in the North West, and Yorkshire and The Humber. In total, 106,612 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 5,715 buyers in the capital across 33 boroughs purchase their own property between February 2016 and September 2017.