More evidence is emerging of high earning first-time buyers using the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme when they may not need to.
Analysis by EYE of the latest statistics covering use of the Government’s flagship housing scheme in the second quarter of 2018, showed households with incomes between £80,000 to £100,000 had the biggest increase in completions over the three months to June.
Applicants with incomes below £50,000 are still the main users of the initiative, but the figures show that first-time buyers on higher incomes saw completions rise by the most compared with the first quarter of 2018.
Applicants with incomes of £60,001 to £80,000 saw a 12% quarterly boost in completions to 21,731 over the second quarter, while those on £80,001 to £100,000 had the same percentage increase to 8,418.
Those with an income of £100,000 or more saw an 11.5% boost to 5,802.
In contrast, there was a 10% boost for those earning £50,001 to £60,000, 9.1% for those on £40,001 to £50,000 and 7.1% for the £30,001 to £40,000 cohort.
Applicants earning below £20,000 or £20,001 to £30,000 saw the lowest growth at 4.6% and 5.4% respectively.
The latest report shows first-time buyers make up 81% of purchases under the scheme.
The number of sales under Help to Buy increased by 15.5% annually to 49,264 in the year to June 2018, taking the total number of completions since launch in April 2013 to 183,947 properties purchased through the scheme.
Commenting on the figures, Lucy Pendleton, founder director of estate agents James Pendleton, said: “Those looking for some clues as to what is propping up house prices across the country need look no further.
“First-time buyers are piling into Help To Buy and they don’t seem to give two hoots about the Brexit uncertainty that is holding back the rest of the market.
“First-time buyers, under huge financial pressure despite relatively low borrowing rates, still account for the lion’s share of these loans and their appetite isn’t waning.”
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