McCausland Welcomes Help To Buy Mortgage Scheme

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.


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)