Minister announces extra Help to Buy a home

The Welsh Government has today announced it is investing up to £290 million in the second phase of Help to Buy –Wales.

Between 2016 – 2021, the funding will aim to support the construction of more than 6,000 additional new Welsh homes, significantly boosting Wales’ building industry and making home ownership achievable for thousands more families.

This second phase of Help to Buy – Wales builds on the success of the current £174 million scheme, which has already helped around 2,400 people buy their home, with another 650 applications in the pipeline.

Wales’ housing sector continues to go from strength to strength, with recent statistics showing that during 2014-15, a total of 6,955 new homes were started, which is a rise of 20 per cent on the previous year.

Announcing the scheme at St Lythans Park in Cardiff, Communities Minister, Lesley Griffiths, said:

“Today’s £290 million investment clearly demonstrates this Government’s commitment to encouraging housebuilding and helping people achieve their goal of owning their own home. I am pleased, to date, our Help to Buy – Wales investment has given 1,784 first time buyers the help they need to get their foot on the property ladder.

“We are seeing sustained growth in Wales’ house building industry and today’s announcement will strengthen this further by increasing the supply of low-deposit mortgages available to people looking to buy a new home. This is a huge boost to the Welsh construction industry, and our economy as a whole, which will provide thousands of new jobs and training opportunities for people across Wales.”

As with the current scheme, the second phase of Help to Buy – Wales will continue to provide shared equity loans of up to 20% of the price of a new build property up to the value of £300,000. This equates to loans of up to £60,000 interest free for five years and at below-market rates thereafter.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation said:

“We welcome confirmation of the extension of the Help to Buy equity loan scheme. Help to Buy is absolutely key to the industry’s ability to build the homes Wales needs.

“If people can buy, builders can build and so helping more people get on to the housing ladder will directly increase the rate at which homes are built, and the increased certainty for builders will support longer-term investment in land and labour. Wales has an acute housing shortage and only by building more homes can we start to address it. Increasing house building will also create more jobs and boost local economies in every area.”