Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 71 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what recent progress he has made on exploring options to support home ownership by service personnel.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) remains committed to supporting home ownership amongst Service personnel, and through the Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) Scheme, has already supported thousands of personnel, and their families, to get on the property ladder.

The Scheme has been intentionally designed to work with the inherent mobility of Service and already supports personnel transferring the outstanding FHTB balance to a new qualifying property on assignment, along with financial support for the legal costs of moving house. It also permits personnel to let out their property after an initial qualifying period when assigned to a location too far away to commute on a daily basis.

FHTB enables Service personnel to borrow up to 50 per cent of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000 interest-free, towards the purchase of a property. As the FHTB is a loan scheme, it is essentially self-funding, meaning that payments are funded from repayments.

With regards to the Strategic Defence Review, Defence is still considering options to further support home ownership, in addition to potential enhancements to the FHTB scheme.