Help to Buy Scheme

02 Oct 2013

From 7th October it will be easier for existing home owners and first-time buyers to move to a resale or new build property with as little as a 5% deposit as part of the new ‘Mortgage Guarantee’ Help to Buy scheme.

This will not just be for first-time buyers, but available to anyone looking to upsize, downsize or just move house. The Mortgage Guarantee scheme will be available on all resale and new build property under £600k, but it must be the buyers' only property. It will mean greater availability of traditional repayment mortgages up to 95% loan to value (unlike the ‘Equity Loan’ Help to Buy scheme which is a 20% equity loan and is just for new builds only).

Key Points

• Available for new build and existing homes
• You'll need a deposit of as little as 5%
• Available to existing homeowners as well as first-time buyers
• You'll need to secure a mortgage for your purchase. The Government guarantee will encourage lenders to offer better access to low-deposit mortgages
• Available from January 2014 , this scheme will run for 3 years
• Maximum home purchase of £600k

So what does this mean?

MORE BUYERS –  buyers looking to relocate or trade up - all of whom could benefit from mortgages at higher loan to value ratios.

MORE SELLERS – an increase in demand is likely to be good news for sellers. There will be opportunities to attract new listings from those encouraged by the increased interest from buyers.

TRAPPED SELLERS – the availability of higher loan to value mortgages may help some trapped sellers who, until now, have been deterred by limited equity.

For further information on the 'Mortgage Guarantee' Help to Buy Scheme please click here