MortgagesNov 25 2015

How new Help to Buy deals will work

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How new Help to Buy deals will work

The chancellor’s Autumn Statement featured the launch of a new London-specific Help to Buy scheme, along with further details on the shared ownership version.

In terms of the latter, current restrictions on who can buy a home through shared ownership will be removed from April 2016.

Currently, these are allocated in several different ways, including criteria set by local councils, for example whether potential buyers work in the local area or if they are already in council housing.

Help to Buy Shared Ownership will lift the limits so that anyone who has a household income of less than £80,000 outside London, and £90,000 inside London, can buy a home through shared ownership.

Only military personnel will be given be priority over other groups and the scheme will apply across England.

People can buy a share between 25 and 75 per cent of a home. The rent on the rest of the property won’t be more than 3 per cent of the amount left.

The government gave an example that on a house worth £227,000 where the buyer has bought a 40 per cent share, the rent will not be more than 3 per cent of the remaining 60 per cent - in this case £4,000 a year, or £340 a month.

In terms of the newly-announced London Help to Buy, currently, if people are able to pay at least 5 per cent of the value of a home as a deposit, the government will lend up to 20 per cent of the rest of the value of the property, alongside a mortgage of up to 75 per cent.

But with the new deal for Londoners, they will only need to contribute at least 5 per cent of the property price as a deposit, while the government will give a loan for up to 40 per cent of the price and borrowers will need a mortgage of up to 55 per cent to cover the rest.

The Equity Loan will be now available until 2021 and to reflect the current property market in London, from early 2016 the government will increase the upper limit for the equity loan it gives new buyers within Greater London from 20 to 40 per cent

First-time buyers will be able to get a 20 per cent discount on 200,000 new Starter Homes, with £2.3bn to be spent over the next five years.

This money will be given to house builders to provide a 20 per cent discount on new homes.

peter.walker@ft.com