Member Article

Just over 300 North East homes bought with Help to Buy mortgage guarantee

Just over 300 house buyers in the North East have used the Government’s Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, figures from the Treasury have revealed.

4% of mortgage completions in the region used the scheme since it was launched on October 8. The average price of a home bought in the region using the scheme was £118,060.

Nationally, Help to Buy guarantee mortgages comprised a small fraction of overall house sales as just 7,313 homes were sold under the scheme.

The total value of mortgages supported by Help to Buy is £1 billion - and the figures showed London and South East had a lower proportion of the take-up.

Around 80% of Help to Buy users were first time buyers.

Some 20,500 home buyers used the separate Help to Buy equity loan scheme - 85% of which were first time buyers.

Home Builders Federation executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: “After a number of years when house building levels fell to a record low level, all indicators show supply is now increasing rapidly.

“The Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme is supporting demand for new build homes - and if buyers can buy, builders can build.

“Its extension provides certainty about longer–term demand that will allow the industry to plan ahead, rebuild capacity lost in the downturn and ultimately deliver sustainable increases in supply.

“This is providing desperately needed homes and also creating tens of thousands of jobs on sites across the country and in the supply chain.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .