Official Statistics

Help to Buy: equity loan scheme: Technical notes

Updated 6 February 2024

Applies to England

1. Official Statistics Status

The designation of these statistics is Official Statistics.^{[footnote 1]}

2. Data collection

Data is extracted from Homes England’s Investment Management System (IMS). This contains information provided by Help to Buy agents in accordance with monitoring requirements for the payment of the equity loans.

3. Data quality

3.1 Assessment of data quality

In 2015, the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) published a regulatory standard for the quality assurance of administrative data. To assess the quality of the data provided for this release, the department has followed that standard.

The standard is supported with an Administrative Data Quality Assurance Toolkit which provides useful guidance on the practices that can be adopted to assure the quality of the data they utilise.

The Help to Buy: Equity Loan statistical release is produced by DLUHC based on data provided to the department from Homes England. An assessment of the level of risk based on the Quality Assurance Toolkit is as follows:

Table 1. Quality Assurance of Administrative Data risk matrix

Risk/Profile Matrix Statistical Series	Administrative Source	Data Quality Concern	Public Interest	Matrix Classification
Help to Buy: Equity Loan	Help to Buy agents providing data to Homes England Investment Management System (IMS)	Low	Medium	Low Risk [A1/A2]

The data quality concern is considered as low given that the data is collected on behalf of the department by Homes England who perform several quality assurance checks. The data are then further quality assured in detail by the responsible statistician within the department. Further validation and quality checks are carried out, and any issues detected are then queried with Homes England.

The publication of Help to Buy: Equity Loan can be considered as medium profile, as there is some mainstream media interest, with moderate economic and/or political sensitivity.

Overall, the Help to Buy: Equity Loan statistics have been assessed as A1/A2: Low Risk.

A full outline of the statistical production process and quality assurance carried out is provided in the flow chart in Figure 1. Further details are also provided against each of the 4 areas outlined in the Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) Toolkit.

Figure 1. Quality Assurance flow diagram

1. START: Purchaser of property under Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme provides details to their Help to Buy agent

2. Help to Buy agent compiles data from purchaser and runs checks before submitting to Homes England’s Information Management System (IMS). The agents provide Key Performance Standard monthly reports to Homes England.

3. Data are subject to system validations when being submitted to IMS. Homes England also conducts random file checks for accuracy on all Help to Buy Agents at quarterly contract review meetings. Data are quality assured by checking individual entries which exceed set tolerances and random spot checks. Data quality issues are queried with Help to Buy Agent.

4. Data is submitted to DLUHC and is quality assured, sense checking figures and comparing them to historical numbers at local authority level. Data quality issues are queried with Homes England.

5. Data pulled together to prepare live tables and update statistical bulletin. All calculations compared against previous release and quality assured through a checklist approach.

6. END: Publish bulletin and live tables.

Operational context and administrative data collection

Help to Buy: Equity Loan is a government scheme administered by Homes England. Through Help to Buy: Equity Loan, the government lends equity towards the cost of a newly built home.

Data to produce this statistical return is collected by Homes England as part of their administration of the scheme. The data is recorded in Homes England’s Investment Management System (IMS) by Help to Buy agents.

Help to Buy agents administer the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme and are appointed by Homes England. They have the authority to give permission for purchases with help from the equity loan scheme. The agents also make other key decisions during the purchase process.

Homes England provides clear guidance to the Help to Buy agents who supply the data as part of the IMS.

Communication with data supply partners

Homes England is a non-departmental public body. It is governed by a board who decide what its priorities are. Its members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. There is agreement in place for Homes England to collect and provide this data to the department.

House builders are required to submit a monthly return within the first 10 business days of each month. Local Help to Buy agents are responsible for submitting an Authority to Proceed report within 2 business days of month end.

Quality assurance principles, standards and checks by data suppliers

Data submitted to Homes England are subject to system validations in IMS. In addition, Help to Buy agents make Key Performance Standard monthly reports to Homes England and these include compliance with Homes England requirements. Homes England also conducts random file checks for accuracy on all Help to Buy agents at quarterly contract review meetings. Following extraction for the purposes of producing this statistical release, data are quality assured by checking individual entries which exceed set tolerances e.g. such as purchaser income levels, as well as ‘spot checks’ by cross checking with the Land Registry database.

Producers’ quality assurance investigation and documentation

Data submitted to Homes England are subject to extensive checks, once it has been provided to the department further quality assurance checks are carried out. These include checking the total number of completions with Homes England to ensure that the data sets match, comparing the figures for the current release with previously published figures to determine whether there are any anomalous increases, and geo-referencing the data. Geo-referencing involves attributing property addresses to an individual local authority, parliamentary constituency, postcode sector and district by reconciling data against the latest version of the ONS Postcode Directory where possible.

There are further final quality assurance checks performed when producing this final statistical bulletin and live tables end-product. These checks use a clear checklist approach to ensure published figures are consistent across the release and live tables, with each check being systematically signed off when it has been completed.

3.2 Imputation

There is no imputation of figures in this release. The data provided from Homes England is a complete record of all Help to Buy equity loans.

4. Definitions

The definitions used in this publication can be found in the Housing statistics and English Housing Survey glossary published by DLUHC.

Help to Buy: Equity Loans

An equity loan is government financial assistance given to eligible applicants to purchase an eligible home through a government equity mortgage secured on the home. The government equity mortgage is ranked second in priority behind an owner’s main mortgage lender.

The equity loan scheme reported in this statistical release is Help to Buy: Equity Loan. Help to Buy equity loans are only available on new build homes and the maximum purchase price is £600,000. The buyer must provide a cash deposit of at least 5% and a main mortgage lender must provide a loan of at least 75% (55% in Greater London). This scheme offers up to 20% of the value (40% in Greater London) as government assistance to purchasers buying a new build home. The government assistance is made through an equity loan from Homes England to the purchaser. This is paid via house builders registered with Homes England to participate in the Help to Buy equity loan initiative. The payment is made to builders (via solicitors) at purchaser legal completion.

The figures provided in this release are based on the legal completion date for the sale. The equity loan is provided without fees for the first 5 years of ownership. The property title is held by the homeowner. The homeowner can sell their home at any time and upon sale should provide the value of the same equity share of the property to government when it is sold. For example, if government contributed 20% of the value to the applicant to buy a new home, the owner will repay 20% of the future value (the value at the time they sell) to government when selling their equity loan home.

The following definitions are used in relation to the equity loan scheme:

• Completed equity loans (“purchaser legal completions”): a purchaser legal completion is defined as when the home is ready for occupation, the sale contract between the house builder and purchaser has completed and all mortgage funds, deposit and equity loan assistance have been paid to the house builder. The purchaser takes possession after legal completion.

• Reservations: a reservation is defined as the point at which an Authority to Proceed (ATP) is issued by the local Help to Buy agent. The ATP is issued by the local Help to Buy agent following their approval of a firm reservation of a Help to Buy Home. ATP issue is the approval for purchasers to commence conveyancing and submit a full mortgage application to the main mortgage lender.

The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme replaced the existing FirstBuy shared equity scheme on 1 April 2013. FirstBuy offered up to a 20% equity loan on new build properties for First Time Buyers only, co-funded between government and the house builder. Completions of legacy FirstBuy transactions that occurred after 1 April 2013 are not included in these statistics. For the reporting period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014, there were 957 legacy FirstBuy for a total value of government equity loan of £13m.

In February 2016, the government launched London Help to Buy, which offers equity loans at up to 40% of the value of the purchase price. The requirements of the scheme are the same as for the standard Help to Buy: Equity Loan where a deposit of at least 5% will be required and the loans will be interest-free for 5 years, after which a charge will apply.

Previous Scheme (2013-2021)

The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme, which ran from April 2013 to May 2021, offered customers an equity loan of up to 20% of the purchase price of a new build property with a maximum value of £600,000. In Greater London, the maximum equity loan was increased to 40% in February 2016. The scheme was open to anyone purchasing a property, but was targeted at first-time buyers, who made up 82% of all purchases.

2021-2023 Scheme

The Help to Buy: Equity Loan 2021-2023 scheme was announced in 2018 and launched on 1 April 2020. The scheme was similar to the 2013-2021 scheme but was limited to first-time buyers and the purchase price of the properties was capped by region.

Help to Buy: Equity Loan 2021-2023 closed to new applications on 31 October 2022. Any transactions were to be completed by 31 March 2023, but a homebuilder could apply for an extension up to 31 May 2023 to allow purchasers to complete the buying process.

Help to Buy: NewBuy Guarantee Scheme

The title of the NewBuy Guarantee scheme was changed in early 2014 to Help to Buy: NewBuy so that it is grouped together with the government’s other schemes designed to help prospective home buyers comprising of Help to Buy: Equity Loan and Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee.

The scheme allows borrowers to secure up to a 95% loan-to-value mortgage on a new build property. The guarantee is provided by government, in partnership with the house building industry.

In the event of a borrower defaulting on their mortgage, government and the respective house builder assume responsibility for any debt which is not already paid back to the mortgage lender. Mortgages are covered by the government guarantee from point of completion. Government’s maximum total contingent liability is capped at £1bn. Each time a property is sold under the Help to Buy: NewBuy Guarantee scheme, government’s maximum possible cost within this limit increases by 5.5% of the property’s sale value. Government’s costs will be incurred only when:

(i) Help to Buy: NewBuy properties have been purchased (completed), possessed, and/or resold, and have attracted losses, and those losses have been claimed by the appropriate lender/s; and (ii) the total of such losses is more than the total of the builder’s corresponding indemnity fund.

The Help to Buy: NewBuy Guarantee scheme closed to new mortgage offers on 8 March 2015. Any final transactions were completed on or before 8 September 2015. Completions of legacy Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme are not included in these statistics. For the reporting period, 12 March 2012 to 8 September 2015, a total of 5,694 house purchases were made using the Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme. Figures for the cumulative number of Help to Buy: NewBuy completions (since March 2012), by local authority in England can be found in all statistical releases up to 2018 Q1 and in accompanying tables 3 and 10. These legacy tables are no longer updated.

5. Revisions policy

This policy has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Statistics, see the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities revisions policy for more information.

It covers two types of revisions that the policy covers, as followed:

5.1 Non-scheduled revisions

Where a substantial error has occurred because of the compilation, imputation or dissemination process, the statistical release, live tables, and other accompanying releases will be updated with a correction notice as soon as is practical.

5.2 Scheduled revisions

Help to Buy: Equity Loan statistics are drawn from the grant administration system and therefore updated information can be provided by grant recipients after the official statistics have been extracted and compiled. If required, revisions are incorporated into the next scheduled statistical release. For each release, revisions are made from 1 April 2015 onwards.

Initially, Homes England recorded Help to Buy equity loan sales at approval of payment of the builder’s claim. In January 2015, the National Audit Office advised that, for accounting purposes, sales should be recorded at the completion of the home purchase. Homes England have amended the data on this basis. The main effect is on the distribution of sales across previous quarters. The first revised total to the end of January 2015 was included in the monthly statistics on the 5 March 2015 which also explained the change. The first revised time series (count and value of loans) was included in the monthly statistics on the 31 March 2015. No further revisions are expected by Homes England, so this is the last release for the Help to Buy: equity loan data.

5.3 Revisions in this release

Revisions are designated in the accompanying tables with the postscript (R).

6. Other information

6.1 Uses of the data

The data are used for monitoring the delivery of the Help to Buy: Equity loans scheme. They are also used to inform wider government policy on housing.

6.2 Related statistics

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is part of a cross-government working group, including devolved administrations and the Office of National Statistics, working to improve the trustworthiness, quality and value of housing and planning statistics across the UK. This working group has published an action plan to make the planned improvements on house and planning statistics clear and transparent to users.

Details of this work and how you can provide feedback are available via the Government Statistical Service website.

Help to Buy: Equity Loan and related statistics are detailed in Table 2. Further information can be found in the separate statistical release for each source which can be found at the links below.

Table 2. Help to Buy: Equity Loan and related statistics

Release	Frequency	What do the statistics show	Where does the data come from	What are these figures most appropriate for
DLUHC Help to Buy (Equity Loan scheme)	Quarterly	Number of homes purchased and the value of equity loans under the government’s Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme.	Data is extracted from Homes England’s Investment Management System. This contains information provided by Help to Buy agents in accordance with monitoring requirements for the payment of the equity loans.	Provides an accurate assessment of properties purchased using the government’s Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme.

DLUHC Help to Buy: NewBuy Guarantee scheme	Finalised. Quarterly release previously published but no longer updated as scheme closed in 2015.	Number of homes purchased under the government’s Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme.	Data provided by JLT Insurance Management (Guernsey) Ltd in its capacity as administrator to the NewBuy Mortgage Indemnity Scheme.	Provides an accurate assessment of properties purchased using the government’s Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme.

HMT Mortgage Guarantee scheme (2021 scheme)	Quarterly	Number of mortgage guarantee completions, types and values of properties, borrower incomes.	National Savings and Investments (NS&I), who administer the scheme on behalf of HM Treasury, collect data from providers participating in the scheme.	Provides an accurate assessment of properties purchased using the government’s 2021 Mortgage Guarantee scheme in the UK.

HMT Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme (old scheme)	Finalised, Quarterly release previoulsy published but no longer updated as scheme closed in 2016.	Number of homes purchased under the government’s Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme.	Data provided by UK Asset Resolution corporate services, who administer the scheme on behalf of HM Treasury, collect data from lenders participating in the scheme in accordance with monitoring and reporting requirements set by HM Treasury.	Provides an accurate assessment of properties purchased using the government’s Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme in the UK.

Homes England Housing Statistics	Six-monthly	Housing starts on site and housing completions delivered by Homes England (which will exclude Help to Buy: Equity Loan).	The latest statistics on the supply of homes provided by the Homes England, excluding London except for delivery of programmes (excluding Help to Buy: Equity Loan) managed by Homes England on behalf of the Greater London Authority.	Provides and accurate assessment of starts on sites and housing completions delivered by Homes England.

DLUHC Affordable housing supply	Annual	Overall affordable housing supply (new build and acquisitions).	Homes England and Greater London Authority data which is published every 6 months combined with Local Authority Housing Statistics Data.	Provides the most complete estimate of affordable housing supply, including shared ownership schemes. Affordable housing figures are a subset of total housing supply.

DLUHC Housing supply: net additional dwellings	Annual	Total housing supply that comprises all new build, conversions, change of use, other gains/losses and demolitions.	Annual statistical return from local authorities outside London (Housing Flows Reconciliation Return) and Greater London Authority for London boroughs (London Development Database).	Provides an accurate assessment of annual change in all housing stock and is the most comprehensive estimate of supply.

DLUHC Housing supply: indicators of new supply	Quarterly	Quarterly estimates of new build starts and completions and statistics of other indicators.	Building control officers at National House Building Council, Local Authorities and Approved Inspectors	This is a ‘leading indicator’ of house building, available soon after quarter end.

6.3 Devolved administration statistics

The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme operate only in England.

6.4 User engagement

Users are encouraged to provide feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet user needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical release are welcomed and encouraged. Responses should be addressed to the “Public enquiries and Responsible Statistician” contact given in the “Enquiries” section on the release.

Please refer to the Department’s engagement strategy to see how we meet the needs of statistics users.

7. Enquiries

Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209    

Email: NewsDesk@levellingup.gov.uk

Public enquiries and Responsible Statistician: Elise Whiteley

Email: housing.statistics@levellingup.gov.uk

Information on Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

Information about statistics at DLUHC is available via the Department’s website.

1. Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website. ↩