BRINGING back Help2Buy will not solve the country’s housing crisis, a leading property association has warned.

According to reports earlier this week, Rishi Sunak is said to be considering relaunching the £29billion fund to woo voters.

His plans come as thousands struggle to get on the housing ladder at a time of high interest rates and soaring inflation.

But the National Association of Property Buyers say Ministers should think again.
Spokesman Jonathan Rolande said: “Help2Buy did enable many to purchase their own home, but it came at a cost. Billions of pounds were transferred from the hard-pressed taxpayer to the profits of large new-home builders whose income and share price soared during the giveaway.

“The property system is based on pure free-market thinking and if you put money into a buyer’s pocket, and the seller knows this, the asking price goes up.

“Help2Buy helped to fuel enormous house price growth over ten years – bringing it back is not the way to fix the problems that it caused.

“Whilst its true that a huge Government subsidy would help incentivise developers to get building it will not mean that insufficient numbers will be built.

“In the last 13 years only half of the relatively modest 300,000 requirement have been built due to a combination of planning delays, nimbyism, land-banking, a lack of plentiful skilled labour and shortages of materials.

“Even in this less buoyant market, demand for homes still outstrips supply. Giving buyers more to spend will not help this. Reform is needed to get the supply increased, not the demand.”

Help To Buy, which provided loans of up to 20 per cent to those trying to buy their first home (or 40 per cent in London), was introduced in 2013 but ended last year amid questions over the cost to the taxpayer. But Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget last year helped to send interest rates soaring, and the country is in the grip of the highest inflation in 40 years.

Mr Rolande added: “Whether you’re a homeowner, a renter, a landlord or a professional in the property business the chances are you will agree on one thing – the property market in the UK is well and truly broken. House prices have recently reached a record high. Rents are now following them. Worse still, wages are failing to keep up with the rising cost of living, including rising mortgage rates. We can’t carry on like this.”