However, new housing developments offering affordable housing and schemes could be the solution first-time buyers need
With the average house price in Devon at £322,991 in August 2021, first-time buyers (FTBs) are struggling to get a foot on the property ladder in their home county.
The Stamp Duty holiday and people choosing to relocate to or buy holiday homes in the region during the pandemic has seen Devon homes vanish from the market even before some house hunters have had a viewing.
While buyers now need at least five percent of the property price, the average first time buyer deposit for a UK home is nearly 15 percent.
And even though one may have put in all the hard graft and made many sacrifices to save for a good deposit, one may still be priced out of the local market. However, new housing developments offering affordable housing and schemes such as Help to Buy, shared ownership and key worker discounts, could be the solution first-time buyers need.
The Help to Buy scheme is perhaps the most well-known first-time buyer initiative. The Government-backed loan is available on new-build homes up to £349,000 in the south west. It enables first-time buyers to purchase a new home with just a five per cent deposit and a 20 per cent government equity loan.
Sales and marketing director Emma Smith at Vistry Group, which includes Bovis Homes and Linden Homes, said: We are passionate about helping people to buy their own home and we offer a number of initiatives that can enable first-time buyers to afford the space they need or make their monthly mortgage payments more affordable.
She said sales and enquiry levels have been incredibly high over the last 12 months and we’ve seen existing homeowners and first-time buyers benefit from the schemes we can offer – like Help to Buy and Home Reach – which aren’t available with older properties.