Over 285,000 use Help To Buy to purchase homes, says government

Figures released by the government suggest that over 285,000 people, including 240,000 first time buyers, have used one or more of the Help to Buy schemes.

The average house price across the schemes is £193,826, which is below the cost of the typical UK home, and over 90 per cent of completions using one or more of the schemes have taken place outside of London.

In addition, the government says the Help To Buy ISA has assisted over 960,000 people to save towards their own home. 

“As set out in our Housing White Paper, we’re committed to helping those aspiring home buyers currently locked out of the market to turn their home ownership dreams into reality” says the new housing minister, Alok Sharma. 

Breaking down the specific elements of Help To Buy, the government says over 120,000 completions have now taken place through the equity loan scheme which offers buyers up to 20 per cent of a new build home’s costs and allows them to purchase with only a five per cent deposit. 

The North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the South West have seen the highest number of property completions using the ISA - in total, 62,528 completions across the UK using the ISA bonus have taken place since launch in December 2015.

The London Help to Buy scheme provides an equity loan of up to 40 per cent for buyers in the capital with a five per cent deposit. It has assisted 3,249 buyers in the capital purchase between February 2016 and March 2017.