Help to Buy ISA maximum property value

masemoney

Hi everyone,

Me and my partner are looking to buy a house outside of London, in the South east of England, this year. I have been saving up in a Help to buy ISA for a few years now in the hopes to claim the government bonus on this to use towards the deposit, however it is only recently that I discovered you can only claim the bonus on properties with a value up to the limit of £250,000. It's very difficult and looking very unlikely in the current climate to find a decent property for this amount or less in the area that we are looking.

I wanted some advice on what my next steps should be? Is there any chance changes would be made to increase the maximum property value, or should I count my losses and abandon the help to buy isa bonus hopes? I've seen some places suggest opening a LISA, however we are looking to buy in under a year and the LISA would need to be open at least a year to claim the bonus. I'm speculating my best bet is to just move the money into a high interest savings account? 

Would be really helpful to hear any tips or thoughts on this situation!

Mark_d

I live outside London in the South East.  There are some flats around here under £250k...but to get one in a nice area, £250k will only get you a 45% share (shared ownership).

If was a first-time buyer in your position, I would go for the shared ownership flat

eskbanker

Mark_d said:

I live outside London in the South East.  There are some flats around here under £250k...but to get one in a nice area, £250k will only get you a 45% share (shared ownership).

If was a first-time buyer in your position, I would go for the shared ownership flat

For HTB ISA purposes, it's the total value of the property that counts, not the shared ownership percentage.

masemoney said:

Is there any chance changes would be made to increase the maximum property value, or should I count my losses and abandon the help to buy isa bonus hopes?

No chance of the maximum being changed IMHO, so looks like you need to withdraw the money and save elsewhere, if you're sure that you're not going to be able to find a suitable property within the limit.