Help To Buy not driving property bubble, Treasury says
New figures show the number of mortgages guaranteed by the Government has tripled since the start of the year
By James Edgar
1:26PM BST 29 May 2014
The Help to Buy scheme is not fuelling a housing bubble, the Treasury has insisted, as new figures show the number of mortgages guaranteed by the Government has tripled since the start of the year.
Some 7,313 mortgages were completed in the first six months of the programme, which was launched in October 2013, and more than half of the home loans were for under £150,000.
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has argued that Help to Buy was stoking a "raging housing boom" in London and the South East, but the new figures show just 5 per cent of sales under the scheme were in the capital.
However, the latest Treasury figures, which cover the first six months of the controversial scheme since it started in October last year, show it is the regions that benefitted most.
“Almost half of all mortgage completions through the scheme are on properties worth £125,000 or less, with just over 7 per cent of mortgage completions being made on properties valued at £250,000 and above,” the Treasury said.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/10862683/Help-To-Buy-not-driving-property-bubble-Treasury-says.html