Laura Suter, personal finance analyst at investment platform AJ Bell, comments on the latest Help to Buy figures:
“With just two working days left before the Help to Buy ISA closes to new customers for good, the latest figures show just how popular the scheme has been. Almost 260,000 properties have been bought using the ISA, with almost 340,000 Government bonuses being claimed to help people to get on the ladder.
“In total the Government has dished out £320m in bonuses to first-time buyers under the scheme, and collectively Help to Buy has been used to buy £44.5bn worth of properties. While the average first-time buyer in the scheme is 28-years-old, since the ISA was launched eight people under 18 have used it to buy a home, while 40 people over the age of 65 have used it to get their first property too.
“The north-west is the Help to Buy capital of the UK, accounting for 13% of all home purchases under the scheme so far, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber. The scheme has been less popular in the south-east, partly due to the £250,000 cap on properties outside of London, which makes the scheme useless for many in pricey areas outside the capital, such as Brighton or Cambridge.
“There will no doubt have been a rush of people opening Help to Buy ISAs ahead of the deadline to scrap it on 30 November. But the Lifetime ISA will fill its place, allowing a higher limit on property prices outside London, a larger potential Government bonus and the ability to save in both lump sums and monthly.”
