Help to Buy
The government has created the Help to Buy schemes to help hard-working people like you take steps to buy your own home.
How does Help to Buy work?
With a Help to Buy Equity Loan the Government can lend you up to 20% of the cost of your new home. You will then only need a 5% deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest of the value.
There are no loan fees charged on the 20% loan for the first five years of owning your home. You can pay back the loan at any time, or alternatively when you sell your home. If you still have the loan when you do come to sell, you will repay it at this stage. So if you initially purchased with a 5% deposit and 75% mortgage, you will repay 20% of the home’s value at the time you sell.
If you have not repaid your Help to Buy equity loan in full after five years, you will need to pay an interest fee of 1.75% of the amount of your equity loan at the time you purchased your property. This rises annually from the fifth anniversary of your equity loan by the increase (if any) in the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus 1%.
The benefits of Help to Buy
Take advantage of the benefits that are currently available:
- Only a 5% deposit needed
- 20% interest free loan for 5 years
- 100% ownership of your home
- Access to competitive mortgage rates
- Buying is more affordable with lower monthly payments