Government figures show more than 73,000 homes have been bought under the Help to Buy schemes.
Today’s (8 January) figures revealed that 38,052 households have got new-build homes under the equity loan scheme up to November 2014, an increase of 2,099 from October. Of these, 83 per cent are first time buyers (31,640) rising to 94 per cent outside London.
Meanwhile, 30,269 households bought new and existing homes through the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee and 5,518 households were supported into a newbuild home through the NewBuy scheme. The average price of homes under the schemes was £212,000.
Of course, government schemes represent only part of the total, with Halifax figures this week showing 326,500 first time buyer purchases last year, up 22 per cent on 2013.
Some of the main towns and cities benefiting most from the Help to Buy scheme were Leeds, with 628 sales, Milton Keynes with 516 sales, and Peterborough with 512 sales.
Housing and planning minister Brandon Lewis added that first-time buyers are at their highest since 2007 and planning permissions are at record levels.