Help to Buy generates £1.38bn for taxpayers
New analysis of the performance of the Help to Buy new build home ownership loan scheme reveals that the initiative, which helped over a third of a million people get onto the property ladder, has delivered a £1.38bn return on investment for the Exchequer from fully repaid loans and interest payments to date. It is currently generating over £1m a day in returns with the final uplift total expected to exceed £2bn.
Using government data, the new report by the Home Builders Federation (HBF), Payback Time, found that across 181,437 fully repaid loans, government had received a 10.3% uplift on the original loan value, amounting to £1.02bn in positive returns. This is in addition to a further £358m generated from interest payments.
Introduced in 2013 to address a shortage of mortgage finance available in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, the scheme reduced the deposit barrier and supported affordability, in particular for first-time buyers. The scheme was introduced alongside the new National Planning Policy Framework. Together, the twin planning and demand side policy stimuli saw housing supply double within a decade.
The Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme offered shared equity loans of up to 20% (or 40% in London) on new build homes, enabling buyers to access lower-deposit mortgage deals. The equity loan was interest-free for the first five years and repaid based on the property’s value at the time of redemption.
Today’s report shows that Help to Buy:
- Supported 387,195 households into homeownership, including 328,346 first-time buyer households.
- Has seen 181,437 households fully pay off their government equity loans.
- Has so far generated a net return on investment of £1.02bn for the Exchequer (+10.3% uplift), in addition to £358m in interest payments.
- Delivered a record £434.1 million in profit for taxpayers in 2024/25 alone, equivalent to £1.2m every single day.
- Supported £86bn in economic activity, generated over £10bn in tax receipts, and sustained more than 130,000 jobs each year at its peak.
- Is likely to generate a positive return on investment of more than £2bn once the performance of loans and interest income has been accounted for.
HBF’s Payback Time report also explores the role of Help to Buy in the context of long-term government support for home ownership from the 1960s up to 2023, ranging from tax relief initiatives for homeowners during the 20th Century and successive shared equity, guarantee and equity loan schemes deployed by the 1997-2010 Labour governments and the 2010-2015 Coalition government.
With previous interventions like the mortgage interest tax reliefs of the 1960s to 1990s, coming at a significant cost to the Exchequer and providing no supply-side boost, and with the Right to Buy involving only the transfer of stock between tenures rather than the creation of any new homes, Help to Buy can be seen to have been a success with a long-term return continuing to be generated for taxpayers.
The recent commitments from the new housing secretary to support first-time buyers have been positively received, but more action is required to turn these promises into reality. In opposition, the prime minister also promoted a target of returning home ownership rates back to 70% compared with 65% today. Home ownership levels had been in decline between the early 2000s and early 2010s, with Help to Buy arresting and reversing that decline for a period.
The Office for National Statistics recently published data showing that the average home was unaffordable even for the top decile earning household in London while in the South East, South West and East of England, only the highest decile earners could afford a typical property. Only in the North East was the average home affordable to median earners. Earlier this year, polling by Public First showed that 63% of voters who voted Labour in 2024 believed that the inability of young people to buy homes showed that the country is in decline.
Introducing a targeted equity loan scheme for a new generation, partly financed through developer contributions to fill the gap left by Help to Buy, would enable buyers to secure affordable mortgage finance with only a five percent deposit. This approach would stimulate investment in new development sites and increase the number of new homes built.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive at the Home Builders Federation, says: “Help to Buy has clearly delivered for both aspiring homeowners and the taxpayer. Nearly half of the loans have now been repaid, returning over £1 billion in profit on loan values alone, and more than £1.3bn in total returns.
“This is a powerful example of a housing policy that worked. It boosted supply, supported jobs, and enabled hundreds of thousands of people to realise their dream of home ownership.
“With affordability so constrained for prospective first-time buyers, it is frustrating that no support for home ownership is in place today. We need a new targeted scheme that will support young people, helping them overcome barriers to homeownership and ensuring the next generation can access affordable and sustainable mortgage finance.”