New figures from Homes England show that the exchequer has made a return of £1.24billion on Help to Buy loans, and £218million last year alone, the HBF reports.
By the end of last year, 213,000 of the 387,000 equity loans had been fully repaid, more than 55%. The Home Builders Federation has produced its ‘Payback for Good’ report, which highlights the benefits that the scheme has, and continues, to deliver.
Help to Buy, which ran from 2013 until it was withdrawn in 2022, helped over a third of a million people purchase a new build home, with the vast majority first-time buyers.
The HBF says that, over the time it was operating, housing supply doubled, delivering much-needed new homes, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and generating investment in communities across the country.
The period since its withdrawal has been the first time in 60 years there has been no government support scheme in place for buyers.
The report finds that suppressed demand for new homes as a result of a lack of affordable mortgage lending, fears over rising interest rates and the economy more generally is now the biggest constraint on housebuilding, alongside site viability, resulting in a shortage of private homes as well as the affordable homes that come alongside them.
Whilst the scheme has also faced criticism, the HBF says that it delivered on all its preset objectives in terms of increasing housing supply, helping those struggling to buy to do so and driving economic growth.
A government commissioned evaluation of the scheme was completed earlier this year and presented to ministers but is yet to be published.
The HBF has also been calling on the government to introduce a replacement equity loan scheme, and has provided suggestions around what one could look like, including being purely focused on first-time buyers and requiring a developer financial contribution to reduce the cost to the taxpayer.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive at the Home Builders Federation, said: “The lack of government support amidst a dearth of affordable mortgage lending is suppressing effective demand for new homes, preventing young people from getting on the housing ladder and thwarting attempts to increase the supply of new private and affordable housing.”
“Help to Buy supported a third of a million first-time buyer households into homeownership, helped double housing supply, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, and has delivered a £1.25billion return for taxpayers on repaid equity loans.”
“If the government wants to see housing supply increase, it has to tackle the dual constraints of a lack of viability due to the overly burdensome level of taxation and policy costs levied on development, and the suppressed level of demand that is preventing investment in new sites.”
“Publishing the government’s evaluation of Help to Buy, which was completed earlier this year, would help to set the record straight on the performance of Help to Buy and may assist in paving the way for a new support scheme for first-time buyers.”
Key findings from the ‘Payback for Good’ report include:
- Help to Buy assisted 387,278 households to purchase a new build home between 2013 and 2022, including 328,346 first-time buyer households.
- The closed loan accounts had a value at origination of £11.98billion, but the repayment value was £13.22billion, an increase of £1.24billion against the amount loaned and representing a positive return on the investment of 10.4%.
- Since 2018/19, interest payments have generated £510million in income for Homes England, including £151.9million in 2025/26.
- Combining positive returns on the Help to Buy equity loan book and the interest income derived from the scheme to date, the Exchequer has so far benefitted from around £1.74billion of ‘profit’.
- The 32,276 loans paid off during 2025/26 had an origination value of £2.02billion, but Homes England received £2.24billion, an increase on the original value of £218million (10.8%).
- ‘Profit’ on equity loans taken together with interest income during the year created £370million in positive returns for the Exchequer during 2025/26.
