Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide support to first-time buyers by the end of 2023.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government remains committed to making the aspiration of homeownership a reality for as many households as possible.
We operate a range of schemes that aim to increase the supply of low-deposit mortgages for credit-worthy households, including first-time buyers, increase the availability of new housing, and stimulate economic growth. These include the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which is open until the end of 2023 as well as First Homes and Shared Ownership through the Affordable Homes Programme. The Government also helps first-time buyers to save for a deposit through the Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy: ISA.
We are also investing £11.5 billion to build more of the affordable, quality homes this country needs.
Over 829,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since Spring 2010 through Government-backed schemes, with the annual number of first-time buyers at a 20-year high in 2021.
We have also cut Stamp Duty Land Tax, doubling the threshold at which SDLT becomes due from £125,000 to £250,000 and expanding First-Time Buyers Relief raising the threshold at which stamp duty becomes payable from £300,000 to £425,000. The maximum property value on which First Time Buyers Relief can be claimed has also been lifted from £500,000 to £625,000. These will apply until 31 March 2025 to support the property market.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many first-time buyers they have offered financial support to in each year since 2008, broken down by local authority area.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has delivered a range of interventions in recent years to promote home ownership to first time buyers. Data is not available for all schemes
The Government also stipulates that developers support first time buyers through s106 agreements in the planning system (for example providing Shared Ownership and First Homes)
The latest statistics published on first time buyers offered financial support are as follows (attached) (to end September 2022):
Mortgage Guarantee Scheme: See Table 6 at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1135081/Q3_2022_MGS_Quarterly_Statstical_Release_vFinal_230208.pdf
Help to Buy Equity Loan:
See Table 1a at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-data-to-30-september-2022
Help to Buy ISA:
See quarterly statistics at: Help to Buy: ISA Scheme Quarterly Statistics: December 2015 to 30 September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Help to Buy: LISA:
See table 2 at: Commentary for Annual savings statistics: June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support first time buyers onto the housing ladder.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to helping first time buyers to get on the housing ladder. Over 819,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since Spring 2010 through Government backed schemes including First Homes, Shared Ownership and the Lifetime ISA.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help support first-time buyers to purchase their first home.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Getting people on the housing ladder realising their dream of owning a home has been a long held conservative value. I am proud that since Spring 2010, over 800,000 households have been helped to purchase a home through Government-backed schemes, including Right to Buy and shared ownership.
And the annual number of first-time buyers was at a 20-year high in 2021.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2021 to Question 28292, what assessment he has made of the effect of the change to house prices on the adequacy of the Help to Buy ISA price cap of £250,000 for properties outside London.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Help to Buy: ISA scheme aims to help those struggling to save enough to get onto the housing ladder and includes a property price cap of £250,000 anywhere in the UK and a higher property value cap of £450,000 for properties in London.
The Government believes that this price cap is appropriate to focus our support on those that need it most, with the aim of providing support to the majority of first-time buyers across the UK.
The Government’s ambition is to provide the opportunity for first-time buyers to enter the market and has a number of policies in place to support this. In designing the Help to Buy: ISA scheme the Government had to balance the need to control public expenditure with helping those most in need of assistance, and keeps all aspects of savings policy under review.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2021 to Question 28292, whether his Department made an assessment of changes to average house prices when reviewing the Help to Buy ISA price cap for eligible properties.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Help to Buy: ISA scheme aims to help those struggling to save enough to get onto the housing ladder and includes a property price cap of £250,000 anywhere in the UK and a higher property value cap of £450,000 for properties in London.
The Government believes that this price cap is appropriate to focus our support on those that need it most, with the aim of providing support to the majority of first-time buyers across the UK.
The Government’s ambition is to provide the opportunity for first-time buyers to enter the market and has a number of policies in place to support this. In designing the Help to Buy: ISA scheme the Government had to balance the need to control public expenditure with helping those most in need of assistance, and keeps all aspects of savings policy under review.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to support first-time buyers to buy their own home.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
First Homes, our new home ownership scheme, will be prioritised for first-time buyers and will allow them to buy a new home with a discount of at least 30 per cent under market value. In some areas, the discounts could be as high as 50 per cent. This will significantly reduce both deposit and mortgage requirements and open up the dream of home ownership to even more people.
Our new Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme from April 2021 to March 2023 will be targeted at helping first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder.
As set out in the Conservative manifesto of December 2019, the Government will encourage a market in long-term fixed rate mortgages with low deposits to promote home ownership. We stand ready to work with the sector to explore the possible options to bring these products to market.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what Government support is available to help first-time buyers obtain a deposit for a home.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is committed to supporting first time buyers onto the housing ladder and recognises the challenges faced by prospective homeowners to secure a sufficient deposit. Many creditworthy homebuyers can afford regular repayments but not high deposits.
Help to Buy: Equity Loan helps address this by allowing people to buy with deposits as low as 5 per cent. The Government provides a loan of up to 20 per cent of the property’s value (40 per cent in London) which grants the purchaser to access to lower cost 75 per cent LTV mortgages. Furthermore, there are no interest fee payments for first 5 years, easing financial pressures in the early years of home ownership. Under the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme, the homeowner owns 100 per cent of the property, and the Government has an equity share of up to 20 per cent (40 per cent in London) of the home.
Since the launch of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme (1 April 2013 to 30 June 2020), over 278,000 properties have been bought with an equity loan of which 228,896 (82 per cent) were bought by first time buyers. Whilst the current Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme is closing on 31 March 2021 it will be replaced from 1 April 2021 by a new Help to Buy scheme specifically targeted at first time buyers, with regional property caps (based on average first time prices) that will run for two years until March 2023.
In addition to the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme, the Government helps first time buyers to save. First time buyers who opened a Help to Buy: ISA before 30 November 2019 can save through the scheme and will be eligible for a Government bonus of up to £3000. The bonus size is calculated as 25 per cent of the balance in the buyer's Help to Buy: ISA (capped at £3000). The bonus is calculated and paid when the home is purchased. Since the scheme launched in 2015, 336,884 property completions have been supported through the scheme.
Moreover, in April 2017 the Government introduced the Lifetime ISA, which is a long-term savings product intended to support younger people saving for their first home, or for later life. Adults aged 18 to 39 can open a Lifetime ISA, and can save up to £4,000 into their account each year until their 50th birthday, receiving a 25 per cent Government bonus on those savings.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What plans he has to help first-time buyers to purchase their own homes.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This Government will reset our national homeownership offer – ensuring local people and key workers have the opportunity to build a life in their own community.
First Homes, our new homeownership programme, will discount homes by at least 30 per cent for key workers, local people, and first-time buyers – including those who have done so much to respond to the Covid-19 outbreak. We recently closed our consultation on First Homes and will publish our response soon.
At the same time our new £12 billion investment in affordable homes will create thousands of new homes for Shared Ownership.
And all of this adds to other Government-backed schemes, including Help to Buy, which have supported over 627,000 households into homeownership since 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support first-time buyers on low to middle incomes who are unable to afford a deposit whilst paying rent on a home.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Government-backed schemes including Help to Buy - Equity Loan, Help to Buy ISA and Lifetime ISA have helped over 500,000 households into home-ownership since 2010. The Autumn Budget 2018 provided an additional £7.2 billion for a new Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme to run from April 2021 to March 2023, which will exclusively help first time buyers. In addition to this the Stamp Duty relief for first time buyers introduced at the Autumn Budget 2017 will help over one million households over the next 5 years.