The government’s Help to Buy scheme will finally come to an end today after a decade of helping people purchase newly built homes.

The government restricted the scheme to first-time buyers in April 2021, and introduced regional price caps, but when the scheme ends there will undoubtedly be a big hole to fill in order to continue to support transaction levels.

“Help to Buy was a subsidy to the construction sector as much as it was to individuals”, David Smith, head of property litigation at JMW Solicitors, told the press.

Tens of thousands of new build homes have been purchased using the scheme since its inception in 2013. Of these, 96% have been for first-time buyers, with the 5% deposit providing a solution to one of the main barriers to buying a home.

The end of Help to Buy sales will leave many first-time buyers struggling to get a food on the housing ladder.

Giles Mackay, founder of Upstix, commented: “The question is are young people without the Bank of Mum and Dad forever disenfranchised from owning their own home now Help to Buy has come to an end?”

Mackay believes that one area of the market that offers plenty of room for growth is shared ownership.

“It’s Help to Buy without the wrinkles,” he said. “Not only is it the most affordable way for many people to get onto the housing ladder, it will also crucially help stoke demand so that housebuilders keep building in what is a tough macro-environment.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities said: “Supporting aspiring homeowners is a government priority” despite the end of Help to Buy.

Extend of Help to Buy success revealed