The government’s Help to Buy equity loan scheme has hit 10,000 reservations since it launched in April, according to its figures. Communities secretary Eric Pickles said that the scheme was “giving the confidence to housebuilders to deliver and build more homes.” <br><br>He cited Help to Buy and other measures as proof that the government’s interventions into the housing market “were working”. According to DCLG, new housing supply was at its highest since 2008, with 319,000 additional homes added in England between 2010 and 2012. <br><br>More than 150,000 affordable homes had been built over the past three years through affordable housing programmes, and – according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders – the number of first time buyers was at its highest since 2007.