HTB Stampede

demontfort

I thought I’d give you my perspective on HTB as in my opinion in these times of austerity for the government to dole out cash to help people many of whom are in well paid jobs to buy a house is a disgrace. I work in an Investment Bank but despite my well paid job it has taken years to save my 30% deposit.

However at least 3 of my colleagues who are in equally well paid jobs some on six figures salaries have successfully applied for HTB mortgages to buy overpriced London newbuilds. So with just a 5% deposit they get equivalent mortgage rates to me plus a 20% interest free loan. It seems all the more daft that none are UK citizens in fact two aren’t even from the EU but qualify due to having PR and in one of them already owns two properties in his native country.

Honestly these guys are actually laughing as they can’t believe how generous/stupid the UK government is with this scheme. They’re all nice people but it makes no sense to me why the UK government should choose to heavily subsidise the lifestyle choices of both wealthy UK and non UK citizens. As for HTB2 that actually makes the current HTB look quite sensible. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Thrugelmir

demontfort wrote: »

to buy overpriced London newbuilds.

I wouldn't be laughing if I had.

kingstreet

Worth noting, they will repay 20% of the value of the property when they sell, so a rising market may earn the taxpayer a return on its money.

lord_tyrannus

demontfort wrote: »

I thought I’d give you my perspective on HTB as in my opinion in these times of austerity for the government to dole out cash to help people many of whom are in well paid jobs to buy a house is a disgrace. I work in an Investment Bank but despite my well paid job it has taken years to save my 30% deposit.

However at least 3 of my colleagues who are in equally well paid jobs some on six figures salaries have successfully applied for HTB mortgages to buy overpriced London newbuilds. So with just a 5% deposit they get equivalent mortgage rates to me plus a 20% interest free loan. It seems all the more daft that none are UK citizens in fact two aren’t even from the EU but qualify due to having PR and in one of them already owns two properties in his native country.

Honestly these guys are actually laughing as they can’t believe how generous/stupid the UK government is with this scheme. They’re all nice people but it makes no sense to me why the UK government should choose to heavily subsidise the lifestyle choices of both wealthy UK and non UK citizens. As for HTB2 that actually makes the current HTB look quite sensible. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Let's see didn't we end up in this particular pickle of a financial crisis because the banking industry was lending money it didn't have to people who couldn't afford to pay it back

you pay interest on the loan after five years and of course you have to pay it back. I didn't see what your beef is apart from the fact your colleagues are using a government lending scheme to buy a bigger house than you for a cheaper mortgage rate

kingstreet

HTB's affordability calculator uses an income multiple lower than the major lenders, sets a maximum debt to household income ratio of 45% to include mortgage and existing credit and assuming a mortgage rate of 4.8%.

It also tells the HomeBuy Agent if the purchaser could afford a bigger mortgage, to prevent them getting a full equity loan if 10%, or nil would be more appropriate.

makeyourdaddyproud

The UK can no longer survive unless the proletariat get into debt, and this means help for house prices. It's happened before with irresponsible lending but they cant do that now without exposing banks.

Rather than expose more tracts of green belt to developers which would reduce house prices via increased supply, a new device is emerging to force people to buy what's available at inflated prices.

If the former option was chosen (green belt), the ruling classes risk having more working class people on their doorstep. Alas the power of the ruling nimbyists can control these matters outside of the aspirations of the proletariat middle classes - you've been warned.

Bigger debt means all of us have to work harder for the ruling elite and for less money, thus allowing corporate avarice to pervade and control our desperate covetousness of false prosperity.

dgtazzman

I have mixed feelings about HTB. We are in the process of using it to buy a newbuild, though I felt it was use it now and get on the ladder as in the 2 years it would have otherwise taken us to increase our deposit to 15-20% I fear we might be priced out of the market for the type of property we want and be forced to settle for less.

Prices are already noticeably on the up in our area and there's a good chance phase 2 of HTB in January will provide an extra sudden boom in prices in an already rising market, so I felt it was wiser to jump on the train now.

My gripe with it is that I fear many people don't realize they will have to start paying over the government equity loan after 5 years and that it will cause quite a bit of trouble when the time comes. I know what I'm getting into and the extra money for the interest over the loan won't be an issue, though we might manage to pay back the loan before the 5 years are up (if this is more viable than just keeping the loan and overpaying on the mortgage instead if interest rates go up).

kingstreet

It's worth mentioning, the payments from year six onwards are deemed a fee, and not interest, so the borrower is unable to claim housing benefit/SMI on them.