Housing: Construction
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a (a) targeted help to build and (b) mortgage guarantee scheme for first-time buyers purchasing SME-built homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
My Department has no current plans to make such an assessment.
The Help to Build: Equity Loan scheme, targeted at those wanting to custom build, self build or shell build a home, opened in June 2022 and closed to new applications in March 2025. There are no plans to allocate further funding to it.
The government has introduced a new, permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, available to support and sustain availability of low deposit mortgage products for prospective buyers. Additionally, the Bank of England is easing the loan-to-income limit, enabling up to 36,000 additional first-time buyers in the first year. The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) ongoing review of the mortgage market means many buyers can now borrow 10% more towards a property purchase. The government looks forward to ambitious proposals from the FCA’s paper. First-time buyers may also benefit from home ownership initiatives offered at the local level.
We have also provided £3 billion of additional support for SMEs and the Build to Rent sector, in the form of housing guarantee schemes.
My Department has regular discussions with HM Treasury on a range of issues including measures to support SMEs.
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