Help to Buy with St Charles Homes

What is Help to Buy?

Help to Buy is a government-funded initiative helping people who cannot afford to buy on the open market to get onto the property ladder. It's open to homebuyers (both first-time buyers and home movers) in England who can provide a 5% deposit and is available on homes valued up to £600,000.

Help to Buy is made up of two schemes:

Equity Loan - available on new build properties. This scheme has been available since April 1st 2013
Mortgage Guarantee - available on new build and existing properties from January 2014

Equity Loan

With a deposit of 5%, the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme allows you to borrow an additional 20% of the purchase price of the property from the government; the loan is interest-free for the first 5 years.

For example, if you have a deposit of £10,000 (5%)

With a government loan of: £40,000 (20%)

And a mortgage of: £150,000 (75%)

You can purchase a home up to: £200,000 (100%)

In the 6th year, you'll be charged a fee of 1.75% of the loan's value. After this, the fee will increase each year by Retail Price Index plus 1%.

All figures are purely indicative and should not form the basis of any purchasing decisions.

What properties are included?

To qualify for the scheme, Help to Buy properties must be:

Priced below £600,000
Full ownership
New build
In England - this scheme currently excludes Wales and Scotland
The Government Equity Loan scheme is only available from approved, participating house builders

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for a Help to Buy Equity Loan property, you must:

Be able to demonstrate access to savings or funds to pay, if required, a deposit (which may be between 5% and 55% of the purchase price, legal fees, stamp duty and costs of moving)
Be purchasing a property costing £600,000 or less
Have a good credit history
Take out any mortgage with a qualified lender (e.g. a bank or building society)
Remove your name(s) from any other property deed prior to or at the point of completion of your new property if you are a home-owner wishing to buy a larger property for your family

How do I apply?

Choose one of our apartments
Contact us for further details and to arrange viewings
Contact your local Home Buy Agent to confirm eligibility?

Mortgage Guarantee

This scheme will be available from January 2014.

If you're looking to buy a residential property with as little as a 5% deposit, the Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantee scheme could help you purchase your dream home.

From January 2014, Mortgage Guarantee will aim to increase the availability of mortgages for buyers with small deposits. The Government will look to provide £12billion in guarantees, which could enable up to £130billion in higher loan-to-value mortgages (subject to the final scheme design).

The Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantee scheme is available:

On both new build and previously owned properties up to £600,000 in value
To first-time buyers and existing home-owners
From January 2014 - further details will be provided by the Government

For more information, read these articles by Emma Crosby: