Demand May Outstrip Supply As Lenders Brace For Help-To-Buy Stampede
Demand May Outstrip Supply As Mortgage Lenders Brace For Help-To-Buy Stampede
Over 600,000 residential properties are eligible for the £12 Billion (GBP) scheme, while Zoopla says buyers will still need average £10,000 (GBP) deposit
More than 600,000 residential properties on the market are eligible for inclusion in the £12 Billion (GBP) second phase of the Help-To-Buy scheme, according to the latest in a series of surveys leading to predictions that UK mortgage lenders will be inundated due to the expected demand for the government-backed mortgages.
Details of the 95% mortgages, which are available to existing property owners as well as first-time buyers, are to be unveiled by Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, with some banks expected to invite loan applications within hours of the announcement expected next week.
The second phase of the Government’s flagship scheme to allow more first-time buyers and second steppers, wider access to the UK’s residential property market has already been brought forward by three months, with high street bank Santander claiming that up to 1.7 million people want to use the scheme.
The Help-To-Buy scheme will cover existing residential properties as well as new-build properties, but as yet there are no plans to allow Buy-To-Let property investors use the scheme.
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Direct Payment Of Universal Credit Can Be Made To Landlords with Tenants in Arrears
The Government’s change of policy will now allow automatic direct payments of housing benefit to landlords providing the tenant is more than 8 weeks in arrears.
The government rethink has been welcomed by the Residential Landlords’ Association (RLA) and all UK landlords who house tenants in receipt of housing benefit.
Yesterday was the day the Government’s first flagship universal credit pilot scheme went live in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, and a circular to all housing benefit staff revealed that automatic direct payments to landlords will now be allowed in the pathfinder areas.
The policy change was tucked away on the last page of an obscure circular published by the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) yesterday. Universal credit expert and RLA trainer, Bill Irvine, spotted it and immediately informed the RLA.
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