Nearly 5,000 West Midlanders have found a home through Help to Buy

GOVERNMENT statistics have revealed that its Help to Buy scheme has aided 4,875 West Midlands home buyers to get a foot on the housing ladder.

And Birmingham is ranked third in the top ten local authorities for house purchase deals with 241 mortgage guarantee completions, 348 equity loan completions and 589 help to buy completions.

Statistics from the government revealed that more than 48,000 buyers have used the scheme across the UK, with 82% of completions made by first time buyers.
Almost 95% of transactions were made outside of London.

Chancellor George Osborne said: “Help to Buy is working exactly as we intended. It’s helping first time buyers onto the housing ladder.

“It’s a key part of our long term economic plan, which is supporting hard working people to secure a better future for their families. Importantly, Help to Buy is also driving a big increase in house building in Britain, boosting the construction industry and increasing housing supply.”

The equity loan scheme in particular is also helping to drive an increase in the number of homes that are being built in the UK, the Government suggests.

At the same time the construction sector has been growing for 15 consecutive months, and is currently experiencing the sharpest rise in house building orders since 2003, while companies are taking on new workers at the fastest rate since 1997.

Mortgage approvals grew by 14% in the year to June, with total property transactions growing by the same amount. Last year successful applications for major housing schemes were up by 23%, and planning permissions were granted for 216,000 new homes.

New housing starts have begun to respond, growing by 20% in the year to Q2 2014.