The government has recently announced that it has extended the Help to Buy initiative deadline by a further two months. The Help to Buy scheme enables people to purchase a new-build home with a smaller deposit of 5%, with the government adding a further 20% in the form of an interest-free deposit for five years. 

The deadline has now been extended to February 28th 2021, where buyers need to have qualified for their equity loan for properties where construction has finished. Legal completion remains unchanged until March 2021.

Housing minister Christopher Pincher said: “Today’s announcement will help provide certainty and assurance for Help to Buy customers whose new homes have been delayed due to coronavirus.”

The reason for this deadline is to give way to a new Help to Buy scheme which will be released on April 1st 2021. Under the new scheme, only first-time-buyers will benefit. The government wants to push more first-time-buyers into the property market by offering support to allow them to purchase a new home. This is due to property prices rising over the last few years, and still increasing in light of the current situation. 

It’s expected that many families and first-time-buyers will benefit from this deadline extension. Due to the recent pandemic, the property market came to a standstill, and with the new deadline extension in place, thousands will still be able to qualify and not miss out on their property purchase. 

The current Help to Buy scheme has helped over 272,852 people buy their first home or move up the property ladder since its launch in April 2013. However, it has faced much criticism as many people benefiting from the scheme, were on high salaries and used the scheme to trade up to more expensive homes. 

With the new Help to Buy scheme coming into phase on April 1st 2021, this will address key concerns bought by critics, including limiting the initiative to first-time-buyers only and having a price cap on property purchases to a maximum value depending on their region. These new changes aim to make sure that the new Help to Buy scheme helps first-time buyers who need this support form the government and not those who will use it to move up the ladder or purchase a bigger house with funding from the taxpayer. 

 If you are looking to Buy, Sell or LET call us on 0116 266 9977!

This is subject to further government policy changes.