Housebuilders sign up to help first-time buyers
Around 100 housebuilders have signed up to a Government-backed scheme to help first-time buyers onto the property ladder.
Under FirstBuy, the Government and housebuilders will provide buyers with a loan of up to 20pc of the property price, meaning that potential buyers will have to put up just a 5pc deposit to qualify for a 75pc mortgage.
Some £500m will be made available over the next two years, split equally between the Government and housebuilders, to help about 10,000 people into home ownership.
Among the housebuilders to have signed up are Persimmon, Barratt Developments, Bovis Homes and The Miller Group. At the same time, a number of banks have agreed to offer 75pc FirstBuy mortgages, including Halifax, Nationwide and Barclays.
The equity loan will be interest-free for five years with interest charged at 1.75pc in year six, and at inflation plus 1pc thereafter. Loans will be repaid on resale of the property. The first homes are expected to come on stream in September this year.
The maximum home value applicable under the FirstBuy scheme has been set at £280,000, but this could increase to £300,000 in exceptional circumstances, a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said. There will also be an upper income limit of £60,000 for scheme applicants.
According to the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML), the number of first-time buyers increased in April to 15,800 from 14,700 the previous month, but is still less than half pre-crisis levels.
The average deposit needed is £20,000 to £25,000, or 20pc of the purchase price.
The CML said on Monday that gross mortgage lending climbed to £11.3bn in May after dipping to £9.8bn in April but “overall lending activity during May is running below year earlier levels”.
Daily Telegraph 21.06.11