The Help to Buy Scheme recently celebrated its 5th birthday this year!
What is the Help to Buy Scheme?
The Help to Buy Scheme makes new build homes available to all home buyers (not just first time buyers!) who are looking to buy a new home, but may be constrained in doing so due to deposit requirements or other reasons.
The scheme was launched to help people step on to the property ladder with just a 5% deposit.
We’ve done a bit of digging and found out that during 2018, the Help to Buy scheme is on track for a record breaking year!
Statistics have been released from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government and we wanted to share some of them.
So far…
- Almost 145,000 homes have been bought using the equity loan scheme
- Since its launch the total value of properties bought using the equity loan is £35 billion. Wow!
- First-time buyers make up 81% of purchases
- The average purchase price of a property bought under the scheme totals £243,818
The Help to Buy equity loan is only available for new build properties and we’re specialists in new build mortgages!
How does the Help to Buy Scheme work?
The Help to Buy Scheme helps people purchase a new property, funded by a mortgage with help from Homes England. This allows buyers to take out a mortgage with repayments made in the usual way, no different to a normal mortgage. Your lender will require a deposit (minimum 5% of the full purchase price) and your mortgage and deposit must cover a combined minimum of 80% of the total purchase price (or 60% of total purchase price in London). The rest of the purchase price will be paid for with an equity loan from Homes England.
When does the Help to Buy Scheme end?
The Help to Buy Scheme ends on 31st March 2023 in the UK, and will close to new applications on 31st October 2022. A spokesperson for Homes England said “When the scheme closes on the 31 March 2023 homebuyers must have legally exchanged on their home.
Who is eligible for the Help to Buy Scheme?
The scheme is open to all buyers seeking to purchase a new build home.
So if you’re looking to purchase a home using the Help to Buy scheme we can certainly help, just contact us.
And because we love making life easier and better for everyone, all of our advice is backed by our 100% mortgage guarantee.
