George Osborne is on course to hit his NewBuy housing target — in 2058
The latest figures for NewBuy, one of George Osborne’s prop-up-the-housing-market schemes, have been published. Mercifully, perhaps, they continue to be underwhelming. To recap: inspired by the American success story of providing mortgages to those that can’t afford them, the scheme provides a guarantee backed by the government and house-builders (who commit 5.5 and 3.5 per cent of the purchase price of a property, respectively) to lenders. Buyers put in a deposit of 5-10 per cent, but the extra money means they can get a higher loan-to-value mortgage than they could otherwise afford. Houses have to be newly built and costing £500,000 or less. It has to be the buyer’s main residence. The Chancellor made available funds to support up to 100,000 mortgages.
