Government loan guarantee sees higher average deposit
THE AVERAGE deposit for a house purchase using Help to Buy rose to its highest number for 10 months in February, according to figures released by the Mortgage Advice Bureau yesterday.
Buyers using the mortgage guarantee scheme put down an average deposit of £9,936 in February, up by 9.2 per cent from January’s £9,099.
It marks the highest average Help to Buy deposit since April 2014, when the figure stood at £11,438.
“Help to Buy’s importance to easing affordability pressures is plain to see: the average deposit of those using the scheme remains far below those found in the wider marketplace, giving first time buyers access to the housing market in a far shorter timescale than would otherwise be possible without parental help,” said the MAB’s head of lending Brian Murphy.
Under the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, the government offers lenders the option to purchase a guarantee on mortgage loans.