Help to Buy and the 2015 Budget

In the budget on 18th March 2015 the Government has announced a new scheme to get first time buyers on to the property ladder.

The new “Help to Buy ISA” will be available from Autumn 2015 and is available to anyone aged over 16 to put towards the purchase of their first property.

The ISA will be available through banks and building societies and the scheme will work by the saver making monthly deposits (no minimum and maximum of £200) into their account.

The Government will boost the savings by 25% which means that the saver will receive a bonus of £50 extra per £200 paid into the account.

The minimum bonus which can be obtained per person is £400 (which means the minimum total savings would need to be £1,600) and the maximum bonus is £3,000.  If a couple are purchasing a property jointly then they can have separate accounts and each of them can obtain the bonus.

The bonus will be available on first time buyers' home purchases of up to £450,000 in London and £250,000 outside London.

At the time of writing the full details of how the ISA will operate are still to be published. Catie Spink of the TSP Residential Property team has written an article on the Government's help to Buy scheme which can be viewed here.

For more information on how TSP can help you if you are purchasing a new home through the Government's Help to Buy scheme contact Catie Spink.