Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme closed to new applications in England and Scotland

The Help to Buy equity loan scheme closed to new applicants in England on 31 October 2022¹. Lenders describe the closure as covering both England and Scotland in October 2022². The Welsh scheme, Help to Buy, Wales (Shared Equity Loan Scheme), which was introduced on 2 January 2014, remains open to purchases¹.

The Welsh scheme has its own price caps and dates. The maximum purchase price was £300,000 from 2 January 2014, reduced to £250,000 on 1 April 2021, and returned to £300,000 on 1 April 2023 with a minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) B¹. In December 2022 the Minister for Climate Change announced the scheme in Wales would continue until March 2025, with all homes sold through it needing to meet a minimum of EPC B and the purchase price cap rising from £250,000 to £300,000¹. In December 2024 the decision was made to further extend the Help to Buy, Wales shared equity loan scheme to September 2026¹.

For people who already bought under the scheme, the loans continue. Kensington Mortgages states that those who bought their property with the Help to Buy scheme in England, Scotland or Wales can still remortgage³. Cambridge Building Society says existing buyers can still manage their loans, and that borrowers may be able to borrow more to reduce or repay a Help to Buy equity loan, in stages known as staircasing or all at once, with the extra borrowing not usable for any other purpose².

The Welsh scheme is open to all home buyers, not just first-time buyers, who wish to purchase a new home but may be constrained in doing so, for example by deposit requirements, but who could otherwise be expected to repay a mortgage¹. The data on it is collected on behalf of the Welsh Government by Help to Buy (Wales) Ltd, which administers the scheme¹.

Why it matters for households

Anyone who bought a home with a Help to Buy equity loan in England or Scotland before the October 2022 closure still has that loan outstanding, and the equity loan is separate from the mortgage. The closure affects only new applications, so it does not change the terms of loans already taken out². Households in that position can still remortgage³, and lenders describe options to reduce or repay the equity loan through additional borrowing, either in stages or in full².

For buyers in Wales, the scheme remains available, with the purchase price cap at £300,000 and a minimum EPC B for homes sold through it since 1 April 2023¹. The Welsh scheme has been extended to September 2026¹. Propertymark states that Help to Buy (Wales) still exists until September 2026, and that it no longer exists in Scotland or Northern Ireland⁴.

The closure also shifts what is available to buyers who would previously have used the scheme. Propertymark lists the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, the First Homes scheme in England and shared ownership among current options⁴. The First Homes scheme allows first-time buyers to buy a home for 30% to 50% less than its market value where the home is a new build from a developer or one previously bought through the scheme¹. Shared ownership lets a buyer purchase a share of a property, usually 10% to 75%, and pay rent on the remaining share⁴.

What happens next

The Help to Buy, Wales shared equity loan scheme runs to September 2026 following the December 2024 decision to extend it¹. No reopening of the England or Scotland schemes has been reported.