Housing Minister Nelson McCausland has welcomed the early launch of a Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantee Scheme available across the United Kingdom from this week.

The scheme sees the Government guaranteeing up to 15% of a property's value and allows potential buyers to purchase a home with a 5% deposit and the balance covered by a mortgage. Several high street banks are offering the new Help to Buy mortgages to customers, ranging from 80% to 95% of the property's value. The mortgages are based on a repayment basis and borrowers will be subject to the usual affordability and income verification checks normally conducted by lenders to ensure they can afford the mortgage they are applying for.

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Minister McCausland said: "This scheme should help to give many more local people an opportunity to enter the housing market and the net benefit of this across our local economy should be a welcome boost.

"I am delighted that many banks have already decided to get involved and I hope more will be looking to see what new mortgages products they could offer."

(CD/IT)