Help To Buy Criticised By First Time Buyers Group

The government’s flag ship policy Help To Buy Scheme has been slammed by PricedOut. The organisation which campaigns for more affordable housing said that the whilst the scheme had help just under 19,000 first time buyers get onto the housing ladder a further 245,000 were now unable to buy a home because prices had spiralled out of control. The group has calculated English Housing Survey’s income profile of private renters along with figures from the Office Of national Statistics on the latest house price index to show that three-quarters of private renters could no longer afford to buy their own property.

This is on the basis that a borrower would not borrow more that four times their income. With house prices predicted to rise by a further 8% in 2014 and wages growth not likely to increase significantly there is more concern that more first time buyers are going to be locked out of the market.

Although there are other factors that are pushing up prices the shear volume of buyers that are out there along with the lack of new homes being built the Help To Buy Scheme may have the opposite effect of what is was rolled out for. Instead of helping buyers get on the ladder it is actually inhibiting borrowers from buying. Of course there are two sides to this and many commentators have said that the Help to Buy Scheme has been the main driver for the housing market and has pulled the country out of the recession but this still doesn’t help those that still  can’t afford to buy.