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Help to buy scheme kick-starts housing

13 Aug 13 Government action to help kick-start the housing market is working according to the government’s communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles.

New figures show that the help to buy equity loan scheme has led to 10,000 reservations for new-build homes in the last four months. 

The RICS said today that the UK housing market appears to have finally turned a corner. Buyers returned to the market in their biggest numbers for four years, according to the latest RICS residential market survey.

During July, the amount of potential buyers looking to enter the market grew at the fastest rate since July 2009, as a net balance of 53% more chartered surveyors reported increases in demand. Since the start of the year, RICS said that buyers have gradually been returning to test the market - thanks in no small part to government finance initiatives - yet the amount of would-be buyers seen in July saw a sizable peak.

Growth was seen in each and every part of the UK as the recovery, initially focused in the South East, spread to regions across the country. The West Midlands and the North East - areas which have suffered more than most since the market crash - experienced the biggest increases in buyer activity in July.

Government ministers pointed to the delivery of almost a third of a million more homes in the last two years, and said 150,000 additional affordable homes have been built under this fovernment. Pickles said that housing supply and confidence is now increasing.

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Latest figures show that since the launch of the help to buy equity loan scheme in April, there have been 10,000 reservations for new build homes. The government said that the equity loan scheme is giving the confidence to housebuilders to deliver and build more new homes.

New housing supply is at its highest level since 2008 and a total of 319,000 additional homes across England have been added to housing supply in the two years from October 2010 to October 2012.

The number of first time buyers is at its highest level since 2007 and rising.

“This government’s package of measures to boost the housing market is working, with house building and housing supply on the up,” said Pickles. “The tough decisions we’ve taken to tackle the deficit are now delivering a sustainable increase in housing and providing real help to hard-working people.

“With over 10,000 reservations in four months, it’s clear that the ‘Help to Buy: Equity Loan’ is working well. By dealing with the big challenges, we are helping thousands of young people and families get on and move up the housing ladder, and Britain is building again.”

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