Copy article

Latest help to buy data

ended 11. May 2022

This morning, the ridiculously named Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities published the latest help to buy data. You can read the full report here. Key stats are:

  • Between 1 October and 31 December 2021 8,913properties were bought with an equity loan, down by 41% from the same period in 2019.
  • From 1 April 2013 to 31 December 2021, 355,634properties were bought with an equity loan.
  • The total value of these equity loans so far totals £22 billion.
  • The value of the properties sold under the scheme totals £99 billion.

Any thoughts, send them across ASAFP. Write with panache, dear friends.

3 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Copy

Paul Neal
Mortgages & Equity Release Advisor at First Choice Financial Services
£22bn, now just get that number around your head. That is what the government has lent, but what will be more interesting is what is going to be repaid. I had a client this week who originally borrowed £36,000 through the scheme and over the past five years their property's value has increased and now they have to pay back £48,000. That's £12k over a 5-year period. Now, times that over 355,634 properties and that will fund a lot of parties in Downing Street in the coming years."
Copy

Stuart Powell
Managing Director at Advice Guru
"Homebuyers are being more creative with deposit raising than ever before. Rather than entering a government-run scheme that shares in the growth of their property value, buyers are turning to 'The Bank of Mum and Dad, or Nan and Grandad' to fund their deposits. During 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, equity release experienced a growth boom, a significant portion of which was used for house deposits. By gifting funds raised from their property using lifetime mortgages, parents are helping their children onto the property ladder. This has become a viable alternative to Help to Buy and partly explains the reduction in Help to Buy loans."
Copy

Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
It's unsurprising that numbers are a bit down on 2019 as we've had regional price caps introduced since then and those are really starting to bite in some parts of the country - house price rises in some areas have outstripped the cap! Help to by was a real support to first time buyers in that first year of COVID. It was pretty much the only practical way without the bank of mum and dad that many could get on the ladder with a 5% deposit for around a year. With house prices growing at say 10% a year the government is doing very well out of the scheme too. Their value of the share they have in peoples homes has also gone through the roof.