Housebuilder Barratt Developments has said its sales have been lifted by Help to Buy.

The group completed 6,195 new builds in the six months to the end of 2013, which is a 19 per cent increase on last year’s figure. Its average selling price for this period rose to £211,000, up 13.7 per cent from £185,500 the year before.

Help to Buy, the government’s flagship housing scheme, was responsible for 29 per cent of the houses that the firm sold.

The housebuilder said it was “well placed” going into this financial year and forward sales are up 70.6 per cent on the same period a year earlier.

A statement read: “We have been able to increase materially the number of new homes being built and our profitability.”

“The Help to Buy scheme continues to have a positive impact on the demand for new homes,” it added.

Help to Buy enables aspirant first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder more easily, with just a five per cent deposit on a house worth up to £600,000. Some fear it will cause a housing bubble and have called for it to be stopped or altered.