Help to Buy scheme is slammed by MPs for mainly benefitting wealthier families

The Help to Buy scheme has chiefly benefited wealthier families who could already afford to get on the housing ladder, a report claims.

The Government programme was intended to give struggling savers support buying their first home, using an interest-free loan provided by the taxpayer.

But it has been criticised in a report by MPs on the Commons public accounts committee. 

Chairman Meg Hillier said: ‘While many people have been helped to buy properties who would have not otherwise been able to, an even larger group of buyers did not need its financial support.

‘Help to Buy only benefits those in a position to buy their own house in the first place. It does not help to make homes more affordable.’

The report will add further weight to claims that Help to Buy has achieved little other than pushing up house prices by injecting public money into the market.

Help to Buy allows families living outside London to borrow 20 per cent of their home’s value from the Government, for properties worth up to £600,000. 

In London, they can borrow up to 40 per cent. No interest is payable for the first five years.

The scheme was launched by then-Chancellor George Osborne in 2013 as part of a package to boost home ownership among struggling families.

The Government programme was intended to give struggling savers support buying their first home, using an interest-free loan provided by the taxpayer. But it has been criticised in a report by MPs on the Commons public accounts committee [File photo]