11 Jan, 2018/ by Homeward Legal /First Time Buyer
Hundreds of thousands of first-time buyers are in their first home thanks to the government's Help to Buy scheme, according to new figures. The statistics show that of more than 350,000 completed purchases using one of the Help to Buy schemes, more than 300,000 were first-time buyers.
More than 93 percent of completions took place outside London with the Help to Buy ISA proving particularly popular in the north-west, Yorkshire and the Humber. Savers using the ISA will have their funds topped up by an additional £3,000 from the government. So far more than 1.1 million savings accounts have been opened with 106,612 home purchases completed using this route.
The Help to Buy equity loan is also popular, with more than 140,000 completions. This loan allows buyers to find only 5 percent of a newly-built home's deposit with the government providing up to 20 percent of the purchase price.
In London, where the Help to Buy scheme offers an equity loan of up to 40 percent for buyers in the capital, 5,715 people across 33 boroughs were able to buy their own property between February 2016 and September 2017.
Dominic Raab MP, the new Housing Minister, hailed the figures, saying: "This government is committed to helping more people get on the housing ladder, with the support of a range of low cost home ownership products.
"Thanks to our Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme the dream of home ownership continues to become a reality for thousands more households across the country."
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