Government’s Scheme Gets New Homes Built
New figures show the UK government’s flagship Help to Buy scheme is helping more people onto the property ladder and getting more homes built.
The Help to Buy schemes have created over 54,000 home owners in England with over 39,000 households buying new built properties through the equity loan and NewBuy options, and 15,000 households buying through the mortgage guarantee.
A further 3,400 new homeowners have been created in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland through the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, Housing Minister Brandon Lewis has announced.
A breakdown of the figures show that around eight out of 10 sales went to first time buyers and as a direct result thousands of new home owners were created and private house building starts rose by a third.
House building has climbed to the highest level since 2007, construction output has seen the sharpest expansion for eight months, and companies are now taking on workers at the fastest rate since 1997.
‘The figures clearly demonstrate the continuing success of the Help to Buy in supporting creditworthy, hardworking people who want to buy a home of their own. Over 54,000 new homeowners have now used the schemes as a valuable alternative to the Bank of Mum and Dad, enabling them to buy with a fraction of the deposit they would normally require,’ said Lewis.
‘But it’s also got Britain building and since the scheme’s launch private house building starts has increased by a third,’ he added.
Sales of new build homes have been strong across the country. The highest number of equity loan sales were in Wiltshire with 603 sales, Leeds with 559 sales, and Central Bedfordshire with 499 sales and 20 local authorities have all achieved over 300 sales.
The average price of a home is below the national average at £210,000 under the equity loan and £153,000 under the mortgage guarantee.
