First-time buyers are up to £9,000 a year worse off compared to if they had bought the same property this time last year, an analysis has found.
The ‘double whammy’ of Help to Buy ending and mortgage rates soaring means monthly repayments are now an average £1,389 a month – an extra £354 compared to last year.
This equates to £4,252 a year extra for the average £250,000 home a first-time buyer purchases outside London.
In the capital, where the average first-time buyer property is £450,000, repayments are £755 a month more – or £9,058 a year. And inflation is falling much slower than hoped, meaning interest rates are set to rise further.
Read Related Also: DeSantis would BEAT Biden in Georgia – despite president winning there in 2020, new poll shows
The study, by the Liberal Democrats, sparked fresh calls for a scheme to replace Help to Buy, which offered an interest-free loan worth 20 per cent of a house’s value outside London and 40 per cent in the capital.
Lib Dem housing spokesman Helen Morgan said: ‘There has never been a worse time to be a first-time buyer.’
The calculations were based on a 5 per cent deposit, repayments over 25 years and a 2.79 per cent five-year fixed-rate for a mortgage taken out in 2022 compared to a 5.01 per cent rate now without Help To Buy.
The Department for Housing was contacted for comment.
