How Government Property Schemes Have Helped People onto the Property Ladder

These days it can be difficult for young people to get on the property ladder, with the rising cost of house prices in the UK. However, due to a number of government schemes, the process of getting on the property ladder is becoming a lot easier.

Over 100,000 households in the UK have been helped to buy their first property, according to a recent announcement.

Home Buyers on the Increase

Latest figures suggest, there are many different people becoming home owners – whether they are tenants buying their first home through Right to Buy, shared ownership schemes or people who are buying a new build property through the Help to Buy program. These people are becoming homeowners thanks to these government assistance schemes, when they would have otherwise not been able to afford to buy a home.

The First Time Buyer Tracker is a well-respected index from LSL Property Services. This index showed that the amount of first time buyers in November 2013 had climbed to 27,800. This is 28% higher than it was the year before.

Government ministers have been in support of this, saying that these schemes have gotten the country building again. More than 400,000 homes have been built since 2010 and in 2013 the number of new homes that began construction was up 23% from the previous year. This is a dramatic change from the property market in 2010, when buyers couldn’t afford homes and builders were not able to build them. These days, homes are being built all over the UK and buyers are returning to the market.

Improving the housing market will give a much-needed boost to the economy of the UK. Also, the Right to Buy program will recycle all cash from additional sales back into developing new affordable homes for rent. More than 2,000 homes are already in the pipeline for the future.

The Power of the Right to Buy and Help to Buy Schemes

The Right to Buy scheme is one of the government initiatives which has been bringing the housing market back to life in the UK. According to the Housing Minister Kris Hopkins, by reinvigorating this scheme it has made tenants believe that they can buy their property. There are further plans for the discounts offered by the project to rise with inflation – as well as for the maximum discount for houses to increase. Even more social tenants should be able to take advantage of the Right to Buy scheme in 2014.

The Help to Buy scheme has also played a very important part in stimulating the market for mortgages. It helps buyers who have a small deposit still make their way onto the housing ladder and it has significantly increased demand for properties.

However, some critics of the scheme say that these government programs are pushing up house prices artificially and they could cause the next housing bubble. The mortgage market is expected to continue growing in 2014, due to the rising demand for properties and the limited housing stock.

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