Search Acumen comments on Q3 2017’s MHCLG Help-to-Buy Equity Loan Scheme Statistics to September 30th, 2017

Andy Sommerville, Director at Search Acumen, comments on the latest Help-to-Buy Equity Loan Scheme Statistics:

The Help-to-Buy has tapered somewhat from the highs we witnessed in the middle of 2017, but underlying figures paint a more worrying picture.

The average purchase price for a first-time buyer property is up to record levels – up 12% annually, and more than 50% more since Q3 2013. In that same period, the average household wage of a first-time buyer taking part in the government scheme has only increased by 7% annually, and a third since Q3 2013.

If the rate of house price growth is double the rate at which first-time buyer wages are increasing within the scheme, we have created and are sustaining a broken system. We hope the incoming housing minister and the newly augmented Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government can find new and innovative ways to support first-time buyers more sustainably than we are today.

Kindly shared by Search Acumen