The Help To Buy scheme, in its initial phase, was introduced across England in 2013 and is still available today, albeit with different conditions. It was rolled out due to large price increases across the housing market, coupled with stagnating wages which has resulted in home buying being much more difficult than ever before.
The scheme is accessible to both first time buyers as well as existing homeowners looking to move with a slightly different offering. In short, you must be buying a property under the value of £600,000 and it must also be newly built. Now, it can get a little confusing, so to help you out here’s everything you need to know about the help to buy scheme and how to find out if you’re eligible…
The Nuts And Bolts
The initiative is proving to be a fantastic way of making house buying more achievable for those purchasing their first property in addition to those that might want to move into a new build property.
According to Yorkshire Building Society, who completed a study earlier this year, the amount of first time buyers is at a twelve year high thanks to the scheme. These figures also suggest that half of the mortgages that were approved last year were to first time buyers.
The idea behind the scheme is that whatever the price of the new build property you want to buy, you need a 5% deposit. The government will then top up that deposit with an additional 20% so that in total buyers have 25% of the property’s value to pay in advance.
This results in the mortgage products the buyers are offered by lenders, being much more favourable and buying a first home to be within reach of everyone. House buyers are also not charged for borrowing this deposit from the government for the first five years they own the property, so that is also one less to worry about for those first few years finding your feet with a house after furnishing and decorating it.
Are You Eligible For The Help To Buy Scheme?
If you are buying a new build property that costs under £600,000 and you don’t own any other properties at the time chances are you could be approved for Help To Buy.
Only conditions are that you cannot sublet the property or enter a part-exchange agreement on the home you are selling. You also cannot take up the scheme in addition to other government initiatives such as NewBuy, and if you’re an overseas buyer with no history of UK home ownership you will also be unable to partake in the scheme.
It’s worth noting that if you live in London the scheme differs slightly, and the amount of help is higher, you can read more on that here.
Get More Advice From The Experts…
Buying a house is a complex process, let alone buying through a government scheme. If you’d like further advice on Help To Buy, get in touch with our new build team for a no obligation chat. We can help guide you through each stage of the process and remove the stress.
