With a Help to Buy Equity Loan the Government lends you up to 20% of the cost of your new-build home, so you’ll only need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest.
You won’t be charged for loan repayments on the 20% loan for the first five years of owning your home. For the first five years, it’s interest-free. In year six, you will be charged 1.75% which will climb at a rate of 1% of that figure plus any increase in inflation (as measured by the Retail Prices Index (RPI)), every year thereafter.
Example: for a home with a £200,000 price tag
If the home in the example above sold for £210,000, you’d get £168,000 (80%, from your mortgage and the cash deposit) and you’d pay back £42,000 on the loan (20%). You’d need to pay off your mortgage with your share of the money.
Equity loans are available to first time buyers as well as homeowners looking to move. The home you want to buy must be newly built with a price tag of up to £600,000.
You won’t be able to sublet this home or enter a part exchange deal on your old home. You must not own any other property at the time you buy your new home with a Help to Buy equity loan.
This scheme is available in England only. The Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Housing Executive run similar schemes - check out their websites.
The Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme is run by Government-appointed Help to Buy Agents. The Help to Buy Agent for Wiltshire is Help to Buy South. At Impartial Financial Management we are able to guide you through your purchase, from providing general information about the scheme to helping find the right mortgage for you.