Housing Minister Caroline Flint announced further support to help first time buyers into affordable home ownership.
With immediate effect, all first time buyers with a household income of £60,000 a year or less will have the opportunity to apply to buy a share of a home, under a major expansion of the Homebuy programme. Until now, the scheme has been only available to key workers, social tenants and some buyers identified as a priority regionally.
The new rules will mean that most first time buyers will now have the option to apply for the HomeBuy programme. This allows buyers to purchase a share from 25% of a property or to boost their purchasing power by up to 50% with a shared equity mortgage.
For example a household with an income of £32,000 could afford a house of £200,000 - paying £760 each month, as opposed to £1,350 without the scheme.
Other measures announced aimed at giving support to time buyers include:
Under the HomeBuy programme, first time buyers have the opportunity to take advantage of either a shared equity or shared ownership product to help them buy their home.