Almost 13,000 homebuyers took out loans in the first nine months of the Help to Buy scheme.

The government’s flagship housing policy is creating 46 new homeowners every day, according to new figures.

There have been 12,875 sales of newly-built properties since April through the equity loan scheme. There are a further 6,446 completions in the pipeline.

Leeds has the highest number of sales with 230 since April, while Wiltshire, central Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes and Manchester complete the top five.

Across the 32 London boroughs, there were 810 Help to Buy completions, which equated to six per cent of overall sales in the capital. Approximately 90 per cent of new-build home completions through the scheme were to first-time buyers.

Housing minister Kris Hopkins said: “I’m delighted that through the Help to Buy scheme, we’ve helped thousands of hard-working people realise their dream of becoming homeowners, getting onto the property ladder using this valuable alternative to the bank of Mum and Dad.”

He added that the government initiative is also stimulating housebuilding rates, bringing them to their highest level since 2007.