HTB Property Price Cap

oligoundry

Hi,
I want to open a HTB ISA but it seems pointless as there is a cap of £250k on properties outside of London. I live in Hertfordshire and will be looking to buy a property for around £275/300k (you can only buy a 1 bed flat for £250k now!). With the rise in house prices since the HTB opened, is it not possible to create some more flexibility with these caps? It would be great if anyone can shed any light on this! Thanks.

eskbanker

Don't hold your breath waiting for increases to the HTB thresholds (which were only introduced less than two years ago anyway) but why not use the Lifetime ISA instead, as its cap is £450K anywhere in the UK? No use if you want to buy within a year but apart from that it's a better bet than the HTB: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-ISAs

Neil_Jones

I suspect if there are going to be any changes to H2B it'll probably be to the monthly contribution limit rather than the upper limit of the house price - according to the government's land registry site the average property price in this country is £220k, with wide variations in some areas such as Hertfordshire, though it being so close to London probably exacerbates the effect to a degree.

Rich2808

I doubt they will make any changes to the HTB ISA as they will want to promote the new lifetime isa instead. First time buyers over 40 of course cant open the latter.