Help to Buy
Some Governmental Assitance with the Property Ladder
There are a range of government backed initiatives which aim to assist people who are buying their first home.
The Help to Buy ISA enables First Time Buyers to save up to £200 per month plus an initial £1,200 one-off deposit. The Government will add a 25% bonus upon the final balance when the funds are used as a deposit towards buying a home.In addition if you are buying with someone else, you can both have your own Help to Buy ISA, in effect doubling the contribution that you could receive from the Government from £3,000 to £6,000. The maximum purchase price upon which you can receive the bonus is £250,000 for property outside London and £450,000 for those inside London.
However the Help to Buy ISA closed to new accounts on 30th November 2019. With a Help to Buy Equity Loan the Government lends you up to 20% (40% in London) of the cost of your "newly built home", so you will only need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest. The equity loan is in effect free for the first five years, after which the Government will apply a fee (currently 1.75% of the amount of equity loan each year). The equity loan is either repaid upon sale of the property or by you paying off the equity loan (in effect reducing the share owned by the Government).If you are interested in this route and want to buy a new home with a Help to Buy Equity Loan, you can start your search by following this link https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/equity-loan/find-helptobuy-agent/ .
Correct as at 11th March 2020
