Help To Buy - Pros/Cons?

ACCA

With respect to the property prices: regular mortgage vs. HTB.

I've done a little bit of a research for the last 8 months, as was looking (and still am) for a property for myself, still undecided what option to go for, hope you could share your thoughts.

While researching the market, i came across the pattern that the square footage in the past used to be of the smaller standard compared to what's now. For instance, most of the new-built 1-beds are of 50 sq.m. (that's an average between 47 and 54-55 sq.m.), which is opposed to roughly 30 sq.m. (average of 26 and 34 sq.m.) in the past.

Now, if we put this into numbers (want it or not, the living area is important), 1-bed/ studio London zone 2-5 (Lewisham, Croydon, Sutton, Harrow, Sudbury, Ilford, Hackney, Colindale, Wembley, Woolwich):

with HTB:
average price: £370k (obviously there are offers exceeding £400k, but will stick to this figure as an average between £330k - £400k)
average sq area: 50 sq.m.
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average price per sq.m. : £7.4k per sq.m (this ranges from £6.9k to £7.7k, one thing to mention is that the bigger the area the higher the price, thus i would consider an average of £7.4k per sq.m. to be a representative market value of a new-built flat.

regular mortgage/ secondary market:
average price: £235k (please don't criticize this estimate, as it is based on the maximum price i could afford with a regular mortgage (not HTB), hence search was limited)
average sq area: (!) 26 sq.m. (i can't emphasize enough how concerned i became seeing flats with 21 sq.m. - that's my current room, unbelievable)
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average price per sq.m. : £9.1k per sq.m (math: £235k /26 sq.m.)

If we believe that the living area (sq.m.) is an important indicator, which definitely is from my point of view, find below the pros/ const and other considerations:

Pros:
- HTB gives you a brand new flat including new fixtures and fittings, boiler, oven, fridge, cupboards, and bathroom;
- HTB is cheaper if considered by sq.m. (still is a big question for me - why? is there smth happening with the decreased fixed costs? is the quality of flats significantly lower? or the regular sales/ secondary market didn't absorb the effects of the real estate market at all? any other thoughts?);
- HTB is more affordable to get onto the mortgage ladder;
- HTB is less risk averse as it involves Government to split the risks and rewards (if the market goes down, you don't absorb the entire loss);
- with HTB the risk of spending more on reparation/ replacement/ renovation is lower then if with secondary market

Cons:
- with regular sale you get less financial stress/ burden (however the consequences are not clear for the long term perspective, say if you buy a property for living and not looking for an capital gain);
- with regular sales you get more freedom, you can rent out your property and move to another place, whilst with HTB you are stuck to some extent;
- with HTB stamp duty is significantly higher than for a secondary home, but immaterial on a long term perspective;
- anything else?

Uncertainties/ questions:
- Sales perspective - what do you think will be the sales perspective of a new-build and a secondary home in the future, say in 5 years? Would you say that the secondary property is more marketable/ liquid than the HTB property?
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I will be grateful if you could share your thoughts on the above points. Many thanks in advance.