Help to Buy "unmitigated success" - HBF

More than four out of five of the 170,000 homes purchased through the Help to Buy scheme in the five years to March 2018 were bought by first time buyers according to a new Home Builders Federation report released today.

The report, Bringing home ownership back into reach, estimates that Help to Buy has enabled some 246,000 individuals to get on to the housing ladder. In 2017 the median household income for those using the scheme was £49,000.

HBF says that the report, released as the government considers the scheme’s future beyond 2021, shows how Help to Buy has achieved all the targets specified at launch - to increase home ownership; increase housing supply; and generate economic activity.

The report also looks at claims that the scheme has driven up new build house prices, finding that the respective increase in price between new builds and second hand homes is consistent. “While new build prices have always traditionally been slightly higher than second hand properties, the rate of house price growth for new build properties continues to mirror price rises in the wider housing market,” says HBF.

Stewart Baseley, HBF executive chairman, said: “It is quite clear that …