First-timers in Bath hit by cap on Help to Buy

Bath is one of the hardest places in England to buy your first house because of changes to the Help to Buy scheme.

The Government has for several years run the scheme to help young people buy their first house, but has now introduced price caps.

First-time buyers could previously buy a property worth up to £600,000 with a deposit of just five per cent, but regional caps are now being introduced that will dramatically reduce the value of properties that people using the scheme can purchase.

Research by money.com has indicated that Bath is the area that has the fourth-biggest difference between the price cap on the scheme and the average cost of a new-build house.

The average cost of a new-build house in Bath is around £460,000, whereas the regional price cap for the South West as a whole is £349,000 - leaving a shortfall for any aspiring Bath buyers of just over £110,000.

Exeter is the other South West representative in the top ten worst-hit areas, with a £77,931 gap between the price cap and average price.

Overall new build homes in one in four (26 per cent) cities across the country have an average cost above their regional price cap.

Money.com has also carried out research to see which areas of England have benefited most from the scheme since it was introduced in 2013, with Wiltshire seeing the second-most homes bought.

The top ten areas of the country hit hardest by the price cap are: Cambridge (£198,751) Ripon (£120,324) York (£117,519)

Bath (£111,002) Winchester (£88,356) Exeter (£77,931) Hereford (£76,040) Newcastle (£53,219)

St Albans (£39,291) Chichester (£26,068).