Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme -Total Equity Loans & Equity Loans First Time Buyers

This data set contains Help to Buy: Equity Loan statistics at local authority level and includes total equity loans and equity loans to first time buyers . For data released from 5 March 2015 onwards, the Homes and Community Agency (HCA) have revised the completion date for the entire Help to Buy Equity Loan time series. The HCA have stopped counting payment date (when the money out is paid out by the HCA) and now report on the expected actual completion date. It is more accurate and is closer to the live situation, especially when HCA now recognise an asset based on a completion, rather than exchange and approved claim. As a result (and due to reinstating accounts) HCA have seen movement of actual completions dates. There should not be this level of difference moving forward, it was a one off activity.  

Information on the allocation of completed sales to postcode sectors is derived using the latest available information on the full postcode for each scheme, which may be subject to revision. 

For sales before 31 March 2014, properties are included under the local authority district to which they were initially allocated. In some cases, this differs from latest information, which forms the basis of the first column of local authority district figures. Figures for some local authorities may be subject to revisions later in the year. 

Although local authority information is validated against other geographic data at the time of data entry, detailed reconciliation of the data, conducted twice a year, may result in a small number of changes to these monthly releases, for example where a new development crosses a local authority boundary. 						

An equity loan is Government financial assistance given to eligible applicants to purchase an eligible home through a Government equity mortgage 
secured on the home. The Government equity mortgage is ranked second in priority behind an owner’s main mortgage lender. 

This scheme offers up to 20 per cent of the value as Government assistance to purchasers buying a new build home. The buyer must provide a cash deposit of
at least 5 per cent and a main mortgage lender must provide a loan of at least 75 per cent. 

The Government assistance to buy is made through an 
equity loan made by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to the purchaser. 

Help to Buy equity loans are only available on new build homes and the maximum purchase price is £600,000. Equity loan assistance for purchasers is paid via house builders registered with the HCA to participate in the Help to Buy equity loan initiative. The payment is made to builders (via solicitors) at purchaser legal completion. 

The equity loan is provided without fees for the first five years of ownership. 

The property title is held by the home owner who can therefore sell their home at any time and upon sale should provide the government the value of the same equity share of the property when it is sold.

For further information see  
[Help to Buy (equity loan) scheme monthly statistics](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-and-help-to-buy-newbuy-statistics-april-2013-to-30-june-2017).

Organization: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government