Front page of The Sun kick starting housing market..

Sibley

This is what we need. Get it moving.
No more stupid talk of a crash that will never happen.
I bet there are a few people crying in their cornflakes this morning.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/advertisement_feature/feature01/4640097/Five-schemes-for-first-time-buyers-to-look-out-for.html

Home help for your first buy

Five schemes to get you on to the property ladder

Buyer power ... have a look at these schemes to get on the property ladder

STRETCHED personal finances have left many Brits fearing they might never own a home.

But without first-time buyers, current homeowners have no-one to sell their property to and the property market stalls.
It is therefore in the Government’s interest to help Brits get their first foot on the property ladder — and it has backed a series of schemes designed to do just that Here, we take you through the main ones available:
NEWBUY

MOST lenders will not consider a mortgage application unless you have at least a 10 per cent deposit for the property you wish to buy.
However, NewBuy lets you buy a newly-built home with a deposit of only FIVE per cent of the purchase price.
To qualify for NewBuy, the property must be a new build by a builder taking part in the scheme.
It must also cost less than £500,000, you must be a UK citizen and you must use it as your main residence — not a buy-to-let.
However, you do not need to be a first-time buyer and it does not matter how much you earn.
Finally, you should check that the bank or building society you wish to borrow the money from is an approved NewBuy lender.
FIRSTBUY

YOU still need to scrape together a deposit and take out a mortgage but with this scheme the Government and the housebuilder also chip in, providing a low cost ‘equity loan’ of up to 20 per cent of the purchase price.
No interest is charged for the first five years, after which a 1.75 per cent fee kicks in and rises in line with the Retail Price Index — a measure of how fast the cost of living is rising.
Equity loan schemes are only available if your household earns under £60,000 and cannot afford a house in your surrounding area.
They are primarily aimed at first-time buyers but if you previously owned a property and can no longer afford to do so, you will also be eligible.
If you sell at a future date, the Government and the house builder will receive a share of the value. If you do not sell you will need to pay back the equity loan after 25 years.
To get started you should contact your nearest Government HomeBuy agent for free at homebuy.co.uk
Stick with official channels and do not fall for dubious websites offering a fast track process for a fee.
PART BUY/PART RENT

IF you cannot afford to own your home outright then you could also take advantage of the part buy, part rent schemes available.
Homes are available through different housing associations and you can buy shares worth between 25 per cent and 75 per cent of the property’s market value. You then pay a subsidised rent on the remainder.
You pay for your share in the normal way with a deposit and mortgage and — as well as new builds — you can also buy from existing owners of shared ownership properties. These are called resales.
OVER 55s

FOR those over 55 a HomeBuy scheme called ‘Older People’s Shared Ownership’ is an option.
It works the same as normal shared ownership except you can only buy up to 75 per cent of your home — and pay rent on the remaining share.
RENT TO BUY

HAVE very limited availability but offers new build homes to rent with the expectation you buy the property once a preset period has elapsed.
Rental costs are set at 80 per cent or less of market value as you save for a deposit before the buying a share in the home.
There are also additional schemes available for those with disabilities and former serving members of the armed forces.

moneyinmypocket

Excellent news, we should be doing all we can to support home owners in this country.

shortchanged_2

Wow, those schemes look fantastic.

However it would make far more sense for house prices to be more affordable without the need for all these silly schemes. All these schemes do is show that housing is overpriced.

Funnily enough I seem to remember a certain julieq (where has she disappeared to?) vehemently denying that a lack of first time buyers would have no effect on house prices. I thought it was quite a bizarre statement back then.

ruggedtoast

Julieq was beastly to Graham, and she liked Rush.

CLAPTON

shortchanged wrote: »

Wow, those schemes look fantastic.

However it would make far more sense for house prices to be more affordable without the need for all these silly schemes. All these schemes do is show that housing is overpriced.

Funnily enough I seem to remember a certain julieq (where has she disappeared to?) vehemently denying that a lack of first time buyers would have no effect on house prices. I thought it was quite a bizarre statement back then.

yes, we need more properties to be built
however that will require government to stop taxing new builds so highly

Conrad

You can build 2 m homes, it won't make a ripple as you simply attract more people to the newly available resource.

If you want FTB's, you need to recognise the greatest issue is overly tight FSA mortgage regulation.

I must be damned irratating keep saying this!

Percy1983

The biggest problem I could see when Iwas looking at this was all the schemes where on new builds, so to save a little on a deposit I would have to pay a new build premium to which it just wasn't worth it.

With that if you can save 5% just keep saving and you will get to 10%.

the_flying_pig

Conrad wrote: »

You can build 2 m homes, it won't make a ripple as you simply attract more people to the newly available resource...

Eh? So why wouldn't (by the same token) more mortgage funds attract more people too?

homelessskilledworker

"The "Sun" says", Mmmmmm

Well there is no arguing with sources like that

Eellogofusciouhipoppokunu

shortchanged wrote: »

julieq (where has she disappeared to?)

She must have gotten herself a life. I salute her. :beer:

Conrad

the_flying_pig wrote: »

Eh? So why wouldn't (by the same token) more mortgage funds attract more people too?

It would, but I just wanted to slay this idea we can build our way out of shortage. As fast as you build, a new queue will form. Recall everyone saying the M25 would aliviate traffic congestion. It did for a very short while.......

Prices will just keep rising and there is nothing we can do about it. People still dream of flocking to these shores so presumably more people think it's a good than a bad society in which to dwell, high prices n all.

My point about mortgage access, is that all these silly homebuy schemes are just tinkering. If more people want to own, we have to cut back FSA regulation to a more approriate level. Fine if people don't want to do this but the price will be a lot more renters, a lot more pennies from heaven for lucky landlords.