Help to Buy has helped to buy more than 17,000 homes, so say the latest official figures.

The figures were released just after Chancellor Osborne’s announcement that the first section of the scheme will be extended to 2020 with a £6 billion boost in the budget, rather than the 2016 deadline that was originally set. As of yet, the second section will still terminate in 2016.

It will aid the purchasing of an estimated further 120,000 more homes.

Despite being designed for first time buyers, only 80% of these homes were reportedly bought by first time buyers.

These promising figures though have been disregarded by Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, as he stated that the scheme does not stimulate property building, a view which is now shared by Halifax. They warned earlier this month that house prices were being pushed further out of people’s reach by demand rising faster than supply.

Emma Reynolds, the Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister, said that “rising demand for housing must be matched with rising supply if this scheme is to bring the cost of housing within the reach of low and middle-income earners… You can’t deal with the cost-of-living crisis without building more homes.”

Adam Posen, ex-member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy scheme also spoke out, calling the scheme “dysfunctional”.

For now, the schemes are set to stay, but who knows what will change after next year’s general election.