The new Help to Buy scheme was launched on 7 October 2013 to enable buyers who don't have large deposit to buy a home.

It follows on from the New Build Help to Buy scheme started in 2012 when buyers of new build properties were offered loans to assist in their purchases. The scheme is aimed at first-time buyers and home movers borrowing to buy new and old homes valued at no more than £600,000, with deposits of as little as 5%.

Our view

We think the scheme is a very positive move that will see more first time buyers coming back into the market, which in turn will help with medium to long term growth in numbers of transactions in the housing market, as they will naturally sell and buy again in the future. The buy to let market that has replaced the first time buyers over the last five or six years tends to take properties out of circulation for a number of years, which means that the beginning of a chain relies on buyers with a much larger deposit.

Lots of comment in the press has been about the move fuelling a housing bubble. We are lucky here in the South East that generally the market has been kept at a reasonable level during the downturn, with the influx of buyers from further afield. This scheme, however, should mean that local people can now afford to get onto the housing ladder without having to save for a large deposit for several years before being able to buy.

Want to learn more?

Our award winning property lawyers will be pleased to provide advice on Help to Buy. Visit our residential property page for more details.