Help to buy scheme

Help to buy

Many people find it too expensive to buy their own home.  What help is available?

Help to Buy is a Government-backed scheme that helps people to buy a home by offering equity loans to supplement a mortgage.  A housing association called Abri is delivering this service in the South East of England on behalf of the Homes England.

Whether you are looking to get onto the housing ladder or move up it, there are a number of Help to Buy products designed to make buying a home more affordable, including:

Shared ownership – New build and Re-sales

Depending on how much you can afford, shared ownership allows you to buy a percentage share of a property while a local housing association retains the other share.

It is sometimes known as “part-buy part-rent” because you will then be charged a rental payment on the remaining share owned by the housing association. In most cases shared owners can choose to buy additional shares later on to increase their equity.

Equity loans

The Help to Buy equity loan is designed to help you purchase specific new-build properties priced up to £600,000 from participating registered developers with as little as a 5% deposit.

The Government lends you up to 20% of the cost of your new-build home, so you’ll only need to provide a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest. You also won’t be charged loan fees on the 20% loan for the first five years of owning your home.

For more information

The local agent to contact if you are interested in this scheme is Abri (formerly Radion).  For more information please either:

• visit the Help to Buy website for the south, to search for available properties, or
• call the agent, 0800 456 11 88.

Shared ownership homes are due to become available in St Nicholas-at-Wade and Garlinge later in 2020.