"We’ve seen numerous reboots in previous years and while they have been tweaked in one form or another, the criticism has remained largely the same"
According to research from GetAgent, 81% feel the government needs to go further in cutting homeownership costs. However, a similar number (79%) believe that talk about reintroducing HTB is little more than an attempt to claw back voters by the Tories.
A decade after it was first launched and just months after its final closing deadline, it looks as though Help to Buy could be back on the table for the nation’s first-time buyers. However, a survey of first-time buyers, commissioned by GetAgent, has found that the majority don’t want to see it re-introduced.
The survey from GetAgent found that 80% of first-time buyers think that house prices are too high, with 37% stating they need additional financial help when attempting to climb the property ladder.
However, 52% stated that they didn’t think schemes such as Help to Buy, that drive demand without addressing supply, were a good idea.
What’s more 54% don’t think that the Help to Buy scheme should be introduced and as many as 79% believe that in doing so, Rishi Sunak is simply looking to secure votes at the next general election, rather than genuinely trying to help first-time buyers.
Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:
“As with any whisperings on government housing policy, we won’t really know what Help to Buy 2.0 looks like until it is fully announced. However, we’ve seen numerous reboots in previous years and while they have been tweaked in one form or another, the criticism has remained largely the same.
"Fuelling demand without addressing supply is a short-term fix to a long-term problem and, in doing so, only drives house prices ever higher to the detriment of those such schemes are supposed to help.
"Unfortunately, the government’s record on delivering more homes speaks for itself and so it’s no surprise that today’s homebuyers are highly sceptical of the re-introduction of Help to Buy.”
