Help to Buy set to generate more than £2bn return – HBF

The Help to Buy equity loan scheme is set to deliver a return on investment for tax payers of more than £2 billion, according to a report published today (October 28) by the Home Builders Federation.

HBF’s Road to Redemption publication draws from government data to reveal that this positive return on investment is likely to be realised once the “performance of loans and interest income has been accounted for”.

Help to Buy was introduced in England in 2013 in response to a lack of suitable mortgage finance which was significantly harming housing supply. It was discontinued in 2023.

In its time, according to HBF’s report, it has allowed almost 400,000 buyers to purchase an energy efficient new build home. This includes just under a third of a million first-time buyer households.

HBF said the government equity loan scheme had already delivered a “positive return on investment for the Exchequer” of more than £900 million from the first 40% of loans that had been paid back in full by home owners and interest payments to date. The data shows that 154,275 households have fully paid off their equity loans.

The report also finds that Help …