* Over 169,102 completed Help to Buy equity loan purchases have been made since 2013.
* Leicestershire has had the most completed Help to Buy property purchases (5,177).
* Rutland revealed to have had the least property sales from Help to Buy equity loan in the East Midlands (255).
According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Authority over 169,102 properties were brought with an equity loan since the launch of the governments Help to Buy scheme in 2013. Whilst the value of these properties sold are estimated to be worth an enormous £42.23 billion. A whopping 81% of total purchases have been made by first-time buyers, and although it has been announced that the scheme is set to run until 2021, it has been under scrutiny with claims it is enabling people who can afford to buy without the equity loan to climb onto the property ladder with just a 5% deposit; thus driving up property prices as a result.
Homelessness charity Shelter analysed the increased amount of mortgage lending in correlation to the scheme and concluded Help to Buy has increased the average home price by £8,250. As a result, housing experts at Fasthomes.org collated data from ‘Help to Buy (Equity Loan scheme) and Help to Buy: NewBuy statistics: Data to 31 March 2018, England’ by The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Authority to determine which areas of England have had the most and least completed Help to Buy equity loan property purchases.
The data was obtained by establishing which unitary authorities and county councils govern each county within England and then compiling the number of completed Help to Buy purchases from each governing body to work out the total sum within each region and sub counties.
What are the results? Fasthomes.org found that the East Midlands had the fourth highest number of property sales made via the Help to Buy equity loan scheme at a total of 19,743; a 437.88% increase since the first quarter of 2013.
The South East was the region with the highest number of properties sold using the Help to Buy equity loan scheme (28,361). Sitting below the East Midlands is the West Midlands (18,606) and the South West (17,889).
At the bottom end of the scale, Fast Homes can reveal the regions with the lowest number of properties sold using the Help to Buy equity loan scheme are: Yorkshire and The Humber (15,547), the North East (12,598), and finally London (12,206). Upon further investigation, Fast Homes broke down the East Midlands as a region to reveal the counties that have had the most and least completed Help to Buy equity purchases.
Leicestershire came out on top with a staggering 5,177 completed property transactions, representing a 248.11% increase since 2013. Leicestershire was closely followed by Northamptonshire (5,173) and Derbyshire (3,444). The bottom three counties in the East Midlands consists of Nottinghamshire (3,270) and Lincolnshire with just 2,424. Rutland had the least number of Help to Buy properties sold in the East Midlands, at 255.
