"Whilst improvements to supply should help to address the issue of affordability, this is a long-term fix which we would like to see accelerated by more immediate initiatives to aid today’s buyers"
- Verona Frankish - Yopa
While buying schemes designed to aid homebuyers onto the ladder are in high demand, stock availability offering such initiatives is slim, according to newly released data from Yopa.
Yopa analysed the current market for sale stock, looking at what proportion of homes currently listed for sale boast the added benefit of a buyer scheme and how in demand these properties are based on the proportion that have already been sold subject to contract.
Buying schemes refer to various government and industry initiatives that help people afford and purchase homes, including shared ownership, Help to Buy schemes, and deposit assistance programs like Deposit Unlock.
The research shows that buying scheme availability is low in the current market. Across Britain as a whole, just 1.8% of homes listed for sale offer the additional boost of a buying scheme for homebuyers.
Newcastle is home to the greatest number of opportunities for homebuyers, but homes offering a buying scheme boost still account for just 2.6% of all properties currently listed for sale. Plymouth and Portsmouth also rank highly at 2.4% and 2.2% respectively.
In contrast, just 0.1% of homes listed for sale across Glasgow offer the additional benefit of a buying scheme.
But whilst buying scheme availability may be sparse, additional analysis from Yopa suggests that this isn’t due to a lack of buyer appetite. Across Britain, 34% of all homes offering the help of a buying scheme have already been snapped up by homebuyers.
This level of demand climbs as high as 71.4% in Edinburgh, with Newcastle (67.9%) and Nottingham (65.5%) also home to some of the highest demand.
“It’s clear that there is a strong appetite amongst the nation’s homebuyers when it comes to much needed help climbing the property ladder, and demand for properties offering the additional boost of a buying scheme are in high demand," says CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, "Unfortunately, the proportion of current market stock offering such a help is slim, at best, and with previous stamp duty relief thresholds now no longer, homebuyers are facing a tough time overcoming the high cost of homeownership.
She concludes, "Whether the Government will look to lend a helping hand remains to be seen, as the only real promise made so far has been to build a greater number of homes. Whilst improvements to supply should help to address the issue of affordability, this is a long-term fix which we would like to see accelerated by more immediate initiatives to aid today’s buyers.”
