

What is Help to Buy?
Help to Buy is a first time buyer scheme whereby the government will lend you up to 20% of the property price, or 40% if purchasing a home in London. You will need to put down a deposit of at least 5% and get a mortgage to cover the rest of the property’s value. The Help to Buy: Equity Loan is subject to eligibility, terms and conditions.
Help to Buy FAQs
Find out moreIs Help to Buy available on all homes?
No – Help to Buy is only available on developments where Homes England have a registration agreement with the housebuilder. While both houses and apartments are available with the government-backed scheme, the equity loan is only available on new build properties and cannot be used to purchase resale homes.
As of April 2021, maximum regional price caps were also introduced for the equity loan. For example, a Help to Buy home in London cannot exceed a full purchase price of £600,000, £437,600 in the South East, or £261,900 in the East Midlands. You can view a full list of regional breakdowns on Share to Buy.
Is Help to Buy different in London?
To reflect the higher property prices in the capital, Help to Buy is slightly different in London.
The government increased the upper limit for the equity loan from 20% to 40%, enabling buyers to get a foot on the property ladder within Greater London. The buyer is still only required to raise a 5% deposit, with a 55% mortgage making up the rest. You can find out more about London Help to Buy on Share to Buy.
Do I meet the eligibility criteria for Help to Buy?
As a home-buying product aimed at helping those who can’t afford to purchase a property on the open market, there are certain requirements that buyers will need to meet to be considered eligible for Help to Buy.
For example, you must be 18 years or older, have at least a 5% deposit of the full purchase price of the property, and must be a first time buyer. If you are buying the property with another person, you will both need to be first time buyers to benefit from the equity loan – meaning neither of you have ever owned another property either in the UK or abroad.
How much does Help to Buy cost?
With the Help to Buy equity loan, the government lends you up to 20% of the cost of your newly built home, so you’ll only need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest. Please note that the Help to Buy: Equity Loan is subject to eligibility, terms and conditions.
The Help to Buy equity loan is interest-free for the first five years of owning your home. After that, the purchaser pays an annual fee of 1.75% on the amount of the outstanding loan, however this fee will increase each year by inflation. You can find out more about these costs on Share to Buy.
Are there Help to Buy homes in my area?
Share to Buy lists thousands of first time buyer homes across the country – including new build properties available through the Help to Buy scheme.
Help to Buy is available on a variety of properties including cosy studios, stylish apartments and traditional family homes. Check out our property search tool to start looking for your new home today!
For further information about the home-buying and application process with the Help to Buy: Equity Loan, please refer to the Help to Buy Agent in your area.
The steps to find your new Help to Buy home
Featured Developers
The major providers of Help to Buy, Shared Ownership and other affordable ways to buy a home all have their homes listed on Share to Buy.
Find your home with Share to Buy
Who are Share to Buy?
Share to Buy is the leading online portal for alternative homeownership options including Help to Buy properties. Established in 2004 as the UK’s first specialist online mortgage broker for affordable homeownership products, the site has since developed into a one stop shop for first time buyers, offering the country’s largest listing of first time buyer homes from many of the UK’s biggest housing providers.
Why should I register with Share to Buy?
Share to Buy is the nation’s biggest and best established affordable homeownership property portal, making it the ideal website for first time buyers looking to take that first step onto the property ladder.
Using our property search tool, you can search for homes that suit your needs via filters such as location, number of bedrooms, monthly outgoings and deposit amount. You can also set up alert preferences so you’ll be notified when new properties that meet your search are announced by email.
Acting as a one stop shop for first time buyers, Share to Buy also offers handy FAQs and guides, interactive mortgage tools, mortgage broker and conveyancing panels, and live events to help potential purchasers on their home-buying journey.
Can I advertise my home on Share to Buy?
If you are a housing association or developer selling properties through Help to Buy, Shared Ownership and other affordable homeownership schemes, we can list your new build and resale homes on the Share to Buy property portal.
As well as working alongside Registered Providers, we also partner with private sellers who are looking to sell their current Shared Ownership home.
Find out more about advertising your Shared Ownership property on Share to Buy.

I found a brand new place that I was able to move into quickly - all I had to do was bring my belongings!

The Help to Buy scheme made buying our first home so much more doable!

I now have a spacious apartment I can call my own, with the freedom to change as I feel fit.
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