Help to buy

The government-backed scheme aimed to help first time buyers and existing home owners buy a new home with as little as a 5% deposit.

The Schemes

There are currently two Help to Buy schemes – ‘Equity Loan’ and ‘Mortgage Guarentee’. Both require a 5% deposit and are available to first time buyers and existing homeowners. Beyond that, the schemes are very different and here’s how:

How does it work?

With a Help to Buy: equity loan the Government lends you up to 20% of the cost of your new-build home, so you’ll only need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest.

You won’t be charged loan fees on the 20% loan for the first five years of owning your home.

Example: for a home with a £200,000 price tag.

If the home in the example above sold for £210,000, you’d get £168,000 (80%, from your mortgage and the cash deposit) and you’d pay back £42,000 on the loan (20%). You’d need to pay off your mortgage with your share of the money.

Help to Buy Equity Loan

A mortgage supported by the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme works in exactly the same way as any other mortgage except that under the scheme the Government offers lenders the option to purchase a guarantee on mortgage loans.

Because of this support, lenders taking part are able to offer home buyers more high-loan-to-value mortgages (80-95%).

You will still be fully responsible for your mortgage repayments. So if you have a 5% deposit, you will need to take out and pay back a 95% mortgage.

Example: for a home with a £200,000 price tag

For more information please visit: www.helptobuy.org.uk