New figures call into question who Help to Buy is really helping

New figures have been released regarding the first two Help to Buy schemes.

Altogether, the Help to Buy Equity Loan and the Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantee have now had a part to play in the purchase of almost 120,000 properties.

This is another milestone, after 100,000 sales through the schemes were reported a few months ago.

Furthermore, the statistics indicate that 80 per cent of these properties sold went to first time buyers. Whether this is a good figure or not depends on opinion, as 80 per cent is a large percentage of the schemes helping the people it was intended for, yet 20 per cent of sales are arguably should not have been allowed to buy through the scheme.

Whether this is good or bad for the market as a whole, one fact seems to be that the house builders in the country are benefitting.

One of the major issues with the housing market in the UK is that there are not enough houses being built to keep up with demand. This has pushed the prices of properties up.

The government has made it possible for, so far, 120,000 people who otherwise would not be able to buy into the property market to do so.

This has made the revenue of house builders jump. For example, figures have been reported showing that building firm Galliford Try have had a revenue rise of 31 per cent to £2.4 billion.

It is predicted that the house prices could rise another 6 per cent, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

In terms of house property numbers, Galliford Try built only 2 per cent more than last year, but the revenue from them rose by 11 per cent.

Although the Help to Buy schemes were supposed to help promote house building, it would seem they have helped to make each individual build more juicy for the builder to sell and more likely to sell, boosting their profits, without them having to push to produce more homes.

Of course, on a personal level for the buyer, the Help to Buy schemes are life changing, and can make the dream of home ownership viable. For a first time buyer, checking with their local HomeBuy Agent to see if they can apply for the scheme could be the break they need to get onto the property ladder.