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Help to Buy Isa scheme data

ended 11. May 2023

HMRC has just published the latest Help to Buy ISA scheme data. You can read the full report >> here <<. Key points below. Any thoughts, whizz them across ASAP as this story is BREAKING.

  • Since the launch of the Help to Buy: ISA, 547,187 property completions have been supported by the scheme.
  • 714,878 bonuses have been paid through the scheme (totalling £860 million) with an average bonus value of £1,204.
  • The highest number of property completions with the support of the scheme is in the North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber, with the lowest numbers in the North East, Wales and Northern Ireland.
  • The mean value of a property purchased through the scheme is £177, 217 compared to an average first-time buyer house price of £245,958 and a national average house price of £294,329.
  • The median age of a first-time buyer in the scheme is 28 compared to a national first-time buyer median age of 30.

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Ross Lacey
Director & Independent Financial Adviser at Fairview Financial Management
The Help to Buy ISA scheme was useful in helping first-time buyers get onto the property ladder. However, although existing savers can continue to contribute, this particular scheme has been replaced by the Lifetime ISA, which we feel is more attractive in most cases. There are several differences between the two, but one of the biggest is the level of bonus available through each scheme - the maximum is £3,000 under the Help to Buy Scheme which would take five years to get based on the maximum contribution of £200 per month being made. With the Lifetime ISA, a maximum contribution of £4,000 can be made each year which would receive a bonus of 25%, i.e. £1000. This can really help aspiring homeowners save a meaningful deposit toward their first property.
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Jamie Lennox
Director at Dimora Mortgages
It comes as no surprise that the majority of users of the Help to Buy ISA are across the North due to the maximum property price cap being £250,000, which rules out the vast majority of the South due to higher house prices that were accelerated even further post-Covid. Many first-time buyers in the South will also likely have looked to transfer their ISA to a Lifetime ISA to benefit from a higher purchase price cap of £450,000.