UK to launch ‘Help to Buy’ home mortgage scheme

On the eve of the recent Tory conference in Manchester, the Prime Minister announced the Help To Buy scheme, which provides 95 per cent mortgages part-guaranteed by the government, will start from next week – three months ahead of schedule.An estimated 200,000 people are expected to get the chance to purchase a house worth up […]

On the eve of the recent Tory conference in Manchester, the Prime Minister announced the Help To Buy scheme, which provides 95 per cent mortgages part-guaranteed by the government, will start from next week – three months ahead of schedule.
An estimated 200,000 people are expected to get the chance to purchase a house worth up to £600,000 with a deposit of just five per cent.
The government will underwrite an additional 15 per cent of the loan to make the deal attractive to lenders. The £12billion initiative will last for three years.
Mr Cameron believes bringing forward the scheme is vital to helping speed up economic recovery.
Speaking recently Mr Cameron said: ‘I will not stand by while hard-working people struggle to get a mortgage for a house.
‘That’s why I am bringing forward this vital scheme.’
Mr Cameron said: ‘I am impatient to help young people get on the housing ladder. The need is now. I have always wanted this to come in and frankly the earlier the better. What concerns me is that you can’t buy a house or a flat even if you are doing okay, you have got decent job prospects and good earnings. I am not prepared to be a Prime Minister of a country with caps on aspiration.’ He added that many properties are not available to potential buyers because they ‘don’t have rich parents’.
A number of high profile figures have warned that it could lead to more problems than it solves.
Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable however warned the scheme ‘could inflate the market’ and said he feared there was a ‘danger of getting into another housing bubble’.