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Help to Buy scheme assists thousands across region says minister

Almost 40,000 households across the UK have bought a home through Help to Buy, Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis has announced - with almost 3,400 of them in the North West.

The latest figures show how the scheme is boosting the supply of new homes, with over 32,500 households buying new build homes through the equity loan and NewBuy options, with a further 7,300 sales though the mortgage guarantee.

In the North West, 3,398 homeowners have benefited from the equity loan scheme so far – 1,175 in Greater Manchester, 725 in Lancashire, 713 on Merseyside, 663 in Cheshire and 122 in Cumbria. Sales in Manchester have reached more than 300.

Mr Lewis said the figures were further evidence that Help to Buy was doing exactly what it was designed to achieve: providing assistance to hard-working families while expanding and accelerating the supply of new homes.

Over 80% of sales have gone to first time buyers and been for new build homes. The direct result is a new generation of homeowners and a 34 per cent increase in private housebuilding during the first year of the scheme.

Housebuilding has climbed to the highest level since 2007, while developers have pledged to use the momentum created by Help to Buy to continue increasing their output. The construction sector has grown for 14 consecutive months, and companies are now taking on new workers at the fastest rate for 17 years.

Mr Lewis said the government had expanded the range of available data about Help to Buy. Figures published today include, for the first time, sales data broken down by postcode, so communities, builders and businesses can see exactly how the scheme is benefitting their area.

He said: “Almost 40,000 households have now achieved their dream of becoming homeowners through Help to Buy. Hard working families are getting the homes they want, while housebuilding has increased to its highest level since 2007.

“It’s no accident that since the start of the scheme private housebuilding has shot up by a third and continues to climb. Developers are increasing their output, and taking on new workers at the fastest rate since records began.

“And for the first time, we’re publishing post-code level data about the scheme, so communities can see exactly how this vital part of our long-term economic plan is improving the housing market and helping their area.”

Sales of new build homes have been strong across the country. The highest number of equity loan sales were in Wiltshire with 469, Leeds with 457 and Central Bedfordshire with 427 Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Bradford, Manchester, Country Durham, Bedford, and Birmingham have all achieved over 300 sales

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .