Andy Burnham resurrects Help to Buy as Britons to buy property with 2.5% mortgage deposits

Prime Minster Andy Burnham will resurrect the Help to Buy scheme to revive Britain's struggling property market, the Government has confirmed.

Under the controversial initiative, introduced under the Conservative Government in 2013 by former Chancellor George Osborne, thousands of Britons got on the property ladder for the first time.

Mr Burnham has approved a new equity loan scheme to help first-time buyers, but sources claim it will have a new name to the previous scheme, which ran from 2013 to 2023.

This latest development comes ahead of the Labour Party Conference 2026 in Liverpool this weekend, where the PM is expected to confirm the policy's details.

The new equity loan scheme called "Your First Home" will be available to buyers in England with more details to be announced by Chancellor John Healey in October 28's Budget.

Based on the Government's announcement, it is expected to support 2.5 per cent deposits, backed by 20 per cent Government-backed equity loans, for prospective first-time buyers purchasing a new-build property from a developer signed up to the scheme.

These equity loans will include an initial interest-free period, meaning that those who use the scheme could save hundreds of pounds per month compared to a 95 per cent mortgage.

However, the scheme will also set a household income cap with local property price caps to further ensure support is targeted at those who need it, the detail of which will be set out at Budget.

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While controversial among economists, a recent Government review determined the Tory-era scheme was "high value for money" to those who benefited from it.

A recent audit of Help to Buy estimated that the initiative added up to £25billion of social value over the last financial year.

However, critics argue the scheme was overly complicated and inflated house prices to levels that have only exacerbated the UK's property woes.

Ministers are looking for ways to do good on their promise to build 1.5 million new homes over Labour's five-year parliament.

However, Government officials are worried that the number of new houses being built has been so low that economic projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) could be downgraded.

In the Government audit of Help to Buy, the report stated: The report found: "The Help to-Buy scheme supported expanded home ownership, particularly in already affordable areas.

"For some people, it helped them onto the housing ladder sooner or enabled them to buy when they might not otherwise have been able to afford to do so.

"For others, it supported people to skip a rung on the housing ladder and buy a larger or more expensive home. On this basis, the Help to Buy scheme delivered its core aim of supporting home ownership."