Finance Choices
Government to help out first time buyers
The number of towns where key public-sector workers cannot afford to buy a property has nearly doubled in the past three years, according to a new survey.
Nurses are now priced out of the property market in 93 per cent of towns in Britain, while firefighters are unable to buy homes in 90 per cent, a study by Halifax reveals.
Police officers fail to get on the property ladder in 71 per cent of towns and the number of places that teachers cannot afford to purchase houses almost doubled from 34 per cent to 77 per cent since 2001.
The research found that the property divide was no longer confined to London and the South East, with the number of towns in the North deemed too expensive for nurses up from 13 per cent in 2001 to 79 per cent in 2004.
Struggling first-time home buyers could however gain cheap mortgages funded by public money under plans revealed by Chancellor Gordon Brown.
Couples would have to raise as little as half the cost of homes sold on the open market, he told the Observer.
The remaining equity in the house would be shared by the government and the bank or building society.
Mr Brown said the scheme would help hundreds of thousands of people get on the property ladder.
"It means that people who couldn't afford the full price of a home can afford the partial price, and they can gradually ramp up their stake - it's putting home ownership within the reach of thousands of people who would not be able to do so," Mr Brown told the newspaper.
The Observer said the scheme would affect about 100,000 purchases and cost hundreds of millions of pounds over three years.
Mr Brown said many people felt home ownership was "beyond their grasp".
"This is part of our idea of helping people meet their aspirations for themselves: I have no doubt that more people want to be able to get a foot on the housing ladder earlier."
Under the new scheme, average monthly repayments on a £200,000 home could be cut by up to £372 a month.
The mortgage help will not be restricted to key public sector workers previously helped by the government, and there will be no means test.
However banks and building societies will have to sift out deserving applicants whose salaries simply will not stretch to the average-priced house, from those simply angling to buy dream homes well above their means, the Observer reported.
Nurses are now priced out of the property market in 93 per cent of towns in Britain, while firefighters are unable to buy homes in 90 per cent, a study by Halifax reveals.
Police officers fail to get on the property ladder in 71 per cent of towns and the number of places that teachers cannot afford to purchase houses almost doubled from 34 per cent to 77 per cent since 2001.
The research found that the property divide was no longer confined to London and the South East, with the number of towns in the North deemed too expensive for nurses up from 13 per cent in 2001 to 79 per cent in 2004.
Struggling first-time home buyers could however gain cheap mortgages funded by public money under plans revealed by Chancellor Gordon Brown.
Couples would have to raise as little as half the cost of homes sold on the open market, he told the Observer.
The remaining equity in the house would be shared by the government and the bank or building society.
Mr Brown said the scheme would help hundreds of thousands of people get on the property ladder.
"It means that people who couldn't afford the full price of a home can afford the partial price, and they can gradually ramp up their stake - it's putting home ownership within the reach of thousands of people who would not be able to do so," Mr Brown told the newspaper.
The Observer said the scheme would affect about 100,000 purchases and cost hundreds of millions of pounds over three years.
Mr Brown said many people felt home ownership was "beyond their grasp".
"This is part of our idea of helping people meet their aspirations for themselves: I have no doubt that more people want to be able to get a foot on the housing ladder earlier."
Under the new scheme, average monthly repayments on a £200,000 home could be cut by up to £372 a month.
The mortgage help will not be restricted to key public sector workers previously helped by the government, and there will be no means test.
However banks and building societies will have to sift out deserving applicants whose salaries simply will not stretch to the average-priced house, from those simply angling to buy dream homes well above their means, the Observer reported.
posted by Bruce Wayne at 6:08 AM
Government to help out first time buyers
1 Comments:
Yeah right, the government will help you out as long as you're a public sector 'key worker'!!
Quite why they think they're any more key just because they happen to work for the government is beyond me.
They look after their own as per usual with teachers and nurses getting cushy houses, cushy pensions whilst the rest of us are taxed to the hilt!
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