Help To Buy equity loans drive over 210,000 home sales since 2013

Data produced by the government showed that some 211,000 homes have been bought using the Help to Buy: Equity Loan.

The scheme started on April 1 2013 and in the period to December 31 2018 - the latest figures available - 210,964 properties were bought with an equity loan.

The total value of these loans was £11.71 billion, with the value of the properties sold under the scheme totalling £54.48 billion.

Most of the purchases were by first time buyers, accounting for 171,053  of 81 per cent of the deals.

In England as a whole, Help to Buy equity loan purchases in 2018 totalled 52,057 which was up by 12 per cent compared with the year to December 2017; first time buyers bought 42,748 properties, up 14 per cent.

In London alone, Help to Buy equity loan purchases last year totalled 5,643 which was a 26 per cent spike on the year before; first time buyers in the capital bought 5,362 properties, up 27 per cent.

Help To Buy - which comes to an end in 2023 - remains a divisive force in the market, with some believing it helps bolster housebuilders’ profits thanks to inflated sale prices; others, like Craig Hall of the Legal & General Mortgage Club, believe it’s hugely valuable.

“Today’s results demonstrate the vital role Help to Buy continues to play in our housing market. The scheme has not only enabled housebuilders to deliver more homes, but it is consistently supporting the buyers who need it most” he says. 

And Kate Davies, executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, says: “With as many as one in every seven first time buyers using Help to Buy in England in 2018, it is likely that the programme will remain invaluable in supporting home buyers over the remaining years of scheme, and will play a crucial role in helping to keep the housing market on an even keel during a period of heightened uncertainty as a result of Brexit.”