Help to Buy: Equity Loan has put almost 50,000 first-time buyers on the property ladder so far and they preferred semi-detached homes priced at £150k-£200k, the latest government data show.
In its 27 months of existence (Apr 2013 – Jun 2015) the government-supported scheme has helped 56,402 people purchase a property, 82 per cent of whom were first-time buyers (46,113).
The average purchase price for a property was £216,030, with the average equity loan advanced standing at £42,992.
First-time buyers opted for properties in the £150,000-£200,000 price range with a third of all purchases made by first-time buyers (14,912) made in that range.
A fifth of first-time buyer completions were in the £200,000-£250,000 price range with 9,639 deals counted since the start of the Help to Buy equity scheme.
These were followed closely by purchases in the £125,000-£150,000 price range (6,678, or 15% of all FTB completions) and buys in the £250,000-£350,000 price range (6,264, or 14 per cent of all FTB completions).
The most preferred property types were semi-detached (13,894) and terraced homes (13,787) and detached houses were third choice for first-time buyers with 10,169 sales within the scheme.
Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of all borrowers, first-time and other buyers, had mortgage deposits below 5 per cent on their Help to Buy equity loans. Just one in ten borrowers had deposits of more than 15 per cent and the smallest proportion of Help to Buy users (7 per cent) had deposits of in the 10-15 per cent bracket.
Most property purchases within the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme were made by people with household income in the range of £30,000 and £40,000. They accounted for a quarter (25 per cent) of all completions. The lowest number of sales, accounting for just 3 per cent of total completions, was made to buyers with household income greater than £100,000.
