Wales is to launch its own version of Help to Buy in January.
It will be only the shared mortgage equity scheme, and available only on new builds.
Housing minister Carl Sargeant said the £170m scheme, called Help to Buy Cymru, will support the purchase of around 5,000 new homes in Wales during the next two and a half years.
Unlike the scheme in England – which launched in April – the cap will be much lower, at £300,000 rather than £600,000. However, like the English scheme, it will give purchasers access to 95% mortgages, with the government funding a shared equity loan of up to 20% of the purchase price.
The shared equity loan must be repaid when the home is sold, at 20% of the then sale price, not 20% of the original loan. Interest will be paid after five years.
In the sixth year, borrowers will be charged interest of 1.75%. In subsequent years, it will increase by using the Retail Price Index plus 1%.
Sargeant said: “To limit scope for confusion, the scheme in Wales matches the UK Government scheme quite closely but it has the added benefit of being easier for small home builders to access.”
The Scottish Government also has its own version of Help to Buy, launched in September. Also available on new builds only, it has a purchase price cap of £400,000.
Now the Scottish Government has introduced a wide-ranging Housing Bill.
It seeks to end all right to buy. This would prevent the sale of 15,500 council houses over the next ten years in an attempt to preserve a stock of affordable homes.
Housing minister Margaret Burgess said: “With 400,000 people on waiting lists for council and housing association houses, we can no longer afford to see badly needed homes lost to the social sector.”
The Bill will also create a new housing tribunal for the private rented sector, transferring jurisdiction for civil cases from the sheriff courts to a PRS tribunal.
The Bill also seeks to regulate all letting agents – an ambition shared by the new Housing Bill in Wales.
The Scottish Bill, if passed, would force all letting agents in Scotland to follow a statutory code of conduct and belong to an ombudsman scheme.
Comments
It seeks to end all right to buy. This would prevent the sale of 15,500 council houses over the next ten years in an attempt to preserve a stock of affordable homes
Good attempt a better idea would be for each one purchased use the money to build 2 or 3 more.
Why use £170M on help to buy deposits, instead use the money to build more council properties, this meaning after the initial outlay the government would not have to spend a penny on housing benefit for every one occupied. Then use the saving to build more social housing its not rocket science is it.
Council rents should be taken in tax, then the tenants who better themsleves (think Bob Crow) and start earning high wages will be incentivised to buy a private property as the rent exceeds mortgage costs. We could call it COUNCIL HOUSE TAX HAHA