House of Commons answer on Help to Buy scheme

William Bain MP tabled a question in the House of Commons relating to the number of people who could potentially benefit from the Help to Buy scheme in the UK and individual regions.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer was asked to estimate the number of people likely to benefit from the proposed Help to Buy scheme in each (a) nation and (b) region; and how many such beneficiaries are in each income decile.

Danny Alexander responded as follows: Help to Buy: equity loan will help up to 74,000 buyers of new build homes over the next three years. The number of people who will benefit in each region, and their level of income, is dependent on a number of factors including demand from home-buyers and developers and property prices.

As housing is devolved, the Help to Buy: equity loan scheme will only be available in England, although the devolved Administrations will receive Barnett consequentials. The Help to Buy mortgage guarantee will be available on mortgages on homes across the UK. Depending on its final design, it will be sufficient to support £130 billion worth of mortgages, UK-wide.

This could benefit up to 190,000 households per year. Actual take up will depend on demand.

The full Hansard reference is available here.

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