A survey of homebuyers has revealed opposition to the rumoured return of the Help To Buy initiative to get tenants to become owners.
Help to Buy was a government scheme to help first-time buyers get a property with just a five per cent deposit. You could borrow 20 per cent of the purchase price (40 per cent in London), interest-free for five years.
It was dropped late last year.
Some 54 per cent of those responding to a survey by property firm GetAgent say the return of the scheme would not help improve the housing market.
And no fewer than 79 per cent say Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is simply trying to win votes rather than genuinely help tenants become home owners.
This follows a report in The Times recently suggesting Sunak was considering resuscitating the idea.
GetAgent says although 81 per cent want to see the government do more to reduce the cost of homeownership, just 46 per cent think the Help to Buy scheme should be re-introduced.
Colby Short, co-founder and chief executive of GetAgent, says: “As with any whisperings on government housing policy, we won’t really know what Help to Buy 2.0 looks like until it is fully announced.
“Fuelling demand without addressing supply is a short-term fix to a long-term problem and, in doing so, only drives house prices ever higher to the detriment of those such schemes are supposed to help.
“Unfortunately, the government’s record on delivering more homes speaks for itself, and so it’s no surprise that today’s homebuyers are highly sceptical of the re-introduction of Help to Buy.”
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If he really wants to help FTBs and second steppers having a HTB scheme solely for second hand starter homes may have some validity. Maximum of 3 bedrooms and maximum of the average house price in the area.
Let people start with the traditional affordable FTB properties and in doing so enable the second steppers to sell and move up the ladder. Create housing chains with lots of SDLT and VAT receipts rather than just one stand alone transaction. If landlords choose to sell to FTBs the government would also get loads of CGT.
Also have an allowance in UC to cover a certain amount of mortgage interest. I was working with a young mum the other night. Her partner has left her with 2 pre school children and a mortgage. She has to work 5 nights a week and survive on 3 hours sleep a day just to keep her home. She gets some UC but nothing towards her housing costs. All her friends are tenants and have far better work/life balance thanks to the LHA element of UC. Why exactly is it OK for the children of homeowners to be raised in poverty?
Funding a mortgage is funding someone's wealth. If the state pays a mortgage they should be entitled to a share in the property. I had a tenant who resolved this when he became disabled. He sold his house and rented.
Paying mortgage interest isn't funding someone's wealth. Paying towards the capital repayments would be funding their wealth.
Help to Buy was, and if done again will be, inflationary.
Just like the Stamp Duty Holiday became; as many predicted.
One commentator/wag dubbed Help to Buy: "Help to Buy - Votes".
(His name was Andrew Rawnsley, and hasn't been on BBC radio since).
The truth - buying votes- obviously hurts.
Yes help to buy then we'll bring in crazy EPC demands and take it all off you
So much for slavery being dead
What are you even on about?
No we don’t want help to buy bck. Fuel price increase as said above. Need supply first at least.
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