Buying schemes

No, the Help to Buy: Equity Loan closed to new applicants on October 31st 2022, before officially ending on March 31st 2023. However, you can find Help to Buy alternatives on Share to Buy including Shared Ownership, First Homes, Deposit Unlock and other home-buying and rental schemes.

Discount Market Sale (also known as Council Shared Equity or a reduced market value scheme) is a low-cost homeownership product where you can purchase a new-build property at a discount of up to 20%.

Discount Full Ownership is a home-buying scheme offered by housing provider, Pocket Living. If eligible, you can buy 100% of these Pocket homes with a discount of at least 20% below local market prices.

Intermediate Rent (or Intermediate Market Rent) is a rental option designed to help first time buyers who can’t yet afford to buy a home, but want to save for a deposit to purchase a home within the next five years. The IMR scheme offers budding buyers the opportunity to rent a brand-new or refurbished home at less than the market rate.

Homes available through Intermediate Rent are usually let on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy basis with a six-month contract period. You may have the opportunity to rent a home for longer than this initial contract period – for example, up to five years – but this will depend on your landlord’s plans for the home.

Available to eligible renters within the capital, London Living Rent homes are for middle-income households who currently rent and are aiming to build up savings to eventually buy a Shared Ownership home. These properties are offered on tenancies of a minimum of three years at below-market value rent, with tenants being given support to save during the period of their tenancy.

Rent to Buy homes provide budding buyers with the opportunity to rent a new-build property on an Intermediate Rent basis for a fixed term of up to five years. The homes are let at a 20% subsidised rate with a fixed rate of inflation to help tenants save towards a home-buying deposit.

Deposit Unlock is a scheme developed by the Home Builders Federation and reinsurance firm, Gallagher Re.

In order to protect themselves from the devaluation of new properties, mortgage lenders are often stricter on the amount they are willing to lend on newly built homes, often setting minimum required deposits of 15-25%. Deposit Unlock lets buyers put down a 5% deposit on a new-build home with the house builder paying to insure the mortgage to make lenders more comfortable about offering high Loan-to-Value (LTV) mortgages on new homes.