Help to Buy prices up 84%

PRICES of some new-builds have nearly doubled since Help to Buy was introduced in 2013.

In London, the average new home now costs £515,150, up from £280,000 in 2012. The 84 per cent increase outstrips the 53 per cent rise in the price of existing properties in the capital.

Help to Buy lets borrowers with only a 5 per cent deposit take out a loan from taxpayers worth up to 20 per cent of the value of the home – or 40 per cent in London. Daniel Pryor, of the pro-free market Adam Smith Institute, said: ‘Help to Buy just pumps up demand without any changes to supply, and there’s no way that’s going to help anyone get on the housing ladder.

‘It’s a measure that helps big housing companies without helping anyone else.’

Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake called for an inquiry into Help to Buy.