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Help to Buy an ‘unmitigated success’, claims HBF
A leading trade body has launched a fierce defence of Help to Buy based on a new study, amid on-ongoing rumours the controversial scheme could be scrapped or altered.
A report by the Home Builders Foundation, whose members include the UK’s biggest housebuilders, highlighted that 170,000 households have used the scheme since its launch in 2013 and of these 81% were first time buyers.
However the government is currently considering the future of the flagship scheme beyond 2021 as critics argue its has driven up new build house prices, boosted housebuilders’ profits while costing the public purse around £9bn.
“It is quite clear that the Help to Buy scheme has been an unmitigated success and has delivered handsomely on all its objectives,” said Stewart Baseley, chair of the HBF.
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The HBF said it is estimated the scheme has helped around 246,000 people get on the housing ladder and rejected the idea it is helped more people on higher incomes than intended.
Last year the median household income for those using the scheme was £49,000. The UK’s overall median household in 2017 was £27,300.
Since the scheme’s launch, housing supply has jumped 74%, according to the HBF. It claims 150,000 jobs have been “supported and sustained” by Help to Buy.
Last year Chancellor Philip Hammond announced he was lining up another £10bn to extend the scheme, which allows buyers to access an interest-free government loan worth up to 20% of the property’s value.
But since then rumours have spread the government is considering the scheme’s future.
Mr Baseley added: “Government should celebrate its success and use the hard evidence now available to rebut the claims of its critics.
“Housebuilders continue to invest in the land, materials and people needed to deliver furthers increases in supply confident in the demand Help to Buy is underpinning.
"Certainty moving forward is now required to enable the increases in housing supply, and the associated social and economic benefits, to continue.”
Earlier today, housebuilding giant Redrow echoed this call by asking the government for clarity on its future position.
