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250,000 Help-To-Buy ISAs opened since December

05/02/2015

The new Help-to-Buy ISA has proved to be a success so far with roughly 250,000 people choosing to open an account since its launch on the 1st December.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced that the Help-to-Buy ISAs have been opened at a rate of one every 30 seconds, or about 3,000 people a day. Data from banks also shows that 75% of the new savers are under the age of 30.

Help-to-Buy ISAs were unveiled in the budget last March, and give first time buyers who are saving for a home a top up of £50 for every £200 they save towards a deposit. Account holders can save up to £12,000 into the ISAs, with a top up of up to £3,000 from the Government.

Critics of the Help-to-Buy ISA have claimed that the scheme could increase demand for homes without doing anything towards the supply, pushing house prices up even further. It has also been highlighted that the £2 billion cost to taxpayers could have been uused to build thousands of affordable new homes.

George Osborne said:
“The best thing the government can do is to make sure that homes are being built for families in the right places and we have the right infrastructure.
“The fact that so many people are making use of the help-to-buy Isa says to me that there’s a lot of pent-up aspiration there, there are a lot of families who want to get on the housing ladder.”

Campbell Robb, the chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said:
“The fact is, with house prices soaring by almost £20,000 in the last year alone this is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. In many parts of the country even the maximum amount you could save with government help won’t be enough for a deposit and, with half of renters’ incomes swallowed up by housing costs, for millions, saving anything at all is impossible.

“This money would be far better spent on building homes that people on ordinary incomes can actually afford to rent or buy in the first place.”

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