Help to Buy scheme enables 1,300 in region to get homes

The vast majority of the 1,291 homes have been bought by first-time buyers.

Leeds has the highest number of sales in the whole country, with 291 so far.

Hull has 181 sales, Barnsley has 126, East Riding has 63, Selby has 46, Ryedale 42 and York 27.

The figures were released by Downing Street, just days after Chancellor George Osborne announced it was to be extended until 2020 with a £6bn boost in the Budget to help an estimated 120,000 more households purchase a new-build home.

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said:“Help to Buy was introduced for the benefit of the whole country, because this government is determined to ensure that anyone who works hard and wants to buy their own home should have the chance to do so.

“So I’m really pleased to see how people across Yorkshire are voting with their feet and using the Help to Buy: Equity Loan to get a foothold on the property ladder.

“The scheme has proved itself a valuable alternative to the bank of Mum and Dad, and since each home sold is new-build, the Equity Loan is also getting Yorkshire building again and creating exciting and rewarding career opportunities for local people.”

The two-part scheme
enables would-be buyers to get on the housing ladder with
as little as a five per cent deposit using a loan from the Government, but there are growing concerns it is fuelling a housing bubble.

Earlier this month, Halifax warned that the scheme was pushing house prices out of reach for many house-hunters by creating strong demand when the supply of properties was not keeping up.

There are also fears that the second phase of the scheme – the mortgage guarantee offered on new and existing homes worth
up to £600,000 – is pushing prices up in London and the South East.