Good news for individuals and for mortgage brokers specialising in first time buyer mortgages as the Housing Minister and member of the coalition Grant Shapps
announces a scheme aiming to get all prospective first time buyers seeking finance to get a foot on the daunting property ladder.
The Firstbuy scheme will see the government and house builders together potentially offer prospective seekers of a first time buyer home loan a 20% equity loan, which alongside a 5% deposit from the potential buyer, will see clients seek to obtain a 75% loan to value mortgage on the rest of the property.
The initial scheme is likely to see 100 house builders take part and offer their new build homes for first time buyers, enhancing the new build mortgage market as well as the mortgage market as a whole. Only available for new build properties, the scheme should also boost the construction industry within the UK, an industry flailing in recent years.
A number of High Street lenders have been willing and able to back the scheme introduced by Shapps, in a move which has won broad support throughout the mortgage industry from mortgage brokers, lenders and prospective first time buyers alike.
The scheme is likely to be a great boost to not just to individuals looking to get on to the property ladder but to the mortgage industry as a whole. For the FirstBuy scheme to work, it will be vital for the government to co-operate with mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers and developers throughout the UK.
Shapps himself has had his say. The Housing Minister has claimed: ‘with 80% of young first time buyers depending on parental help, I am determined that we pull out all the stops to help those who want to take their first steps on to the property ladder.’
He continued to say; ‘FirstBuy will do just that – a Government backed scheme making £500 million available to offer a valuable alternative to the Bank of Mum and Dad. Over the next two years, this will help as many as 10,000 people in England to get that much needed deposit together and realise their dreams of owning their own home.’
