Firstbuy Scheme
Government scheme for first time buyers

In his budget speech on 23rd March 2011, Chancellor George Osborne announced the new Firstbuy Government scheme to help first time buyers onto the property ladder.

Current average deposit for first time buyers is 30% and this figure is pricing many prospective first time buyers out of the market. Therefore the Government have announced that they will use £250 million from the banking levy to fund the Firstbuy scheme. Firstbuy will assist 10,000 First Time Buyers in purchasing a new property.

Firstbuy is a shared equity arrangement where the Government and the Developer provide a loan (interest free for 5 years) to cover a proportion of the value of the property. Under the Firstbuy scheme this proportion is 20% of the purchase price. The Buyer will be expected to contribute a minimum cash deposit of just 5% themselves.

The Firstbuy arrangement will reduce the size of the mortgage required by the Buyer to 75% making it easier to secure funding.

Firstbuy Properties

There will be just over 10,000 properties made available for the Firstbuy Scheme across England and Wales from September 2011.

Properties will be newly built, and military personnel are to be given priority for allocation.

Firstbuy Property News

For latest news on properties available under the Firstbuy Scheme please use the links below.

Firstbuy Lending

Applicants will be required to submit a minimum cash deposit of 5% of the purchase price from their own resources. A further 20% will be made available to assist the purchase under a loan, which is interest free for the first five years. Applicants will apply to a mortgage lender to fund the remaining 75%. A number of main stream mortgage lenders have announced their intention to provide mortgages for the Firstbuy Scheme.

Firstbuy Scheme Eligibility

Eligibility for the scheme is defined via a set of guidelines, these are mainly financial. We offer an online service to check your eligibility for the Firstbuy Scheme.

Firstbuy Scheme Priority Service

Most importantly, our team provide a Firstbuy Scheme Priority Service which is available to assist applicants through the process to acquire their first home via the Firstbuy Scheme.