**Help to Buy Mostly Aided Higher Earners, IFS Says, Sparking Debate on Housing Policy**
**London, UK** – The UK government’s flagship Help to Buy scheme disproportionately benefited higher-income households, with lower earners seeing less advantage, according to a critical analysis from the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The findings renew questions about the effectiveness and equity of the decade-long initiative designed to boost homeownership.
In its latest report, the IFS, an independent research organisation specializing in economic policy, concluded that while Help to Buy did assist a significant number of people onto the property ladder, its structure was more favourable to those who were already in a stronger financial position.
Launched in 2013, the Help to Buy equity loan scheme offered buyers of new-build properties an interest-free loan for the first five years, covering up to 20% of the home’s value (or 40% in London). The stated aim was to help first-time buyers and existing homeowners with smaller deposits secure a mortgage.
However, the IFS analysis suggests that the scheme’s benefits were not evenly distributed. “While Help to Buy undeniably helped many individuals purchase a home, our research indicates that those with higher incomes and larger deposits were better placed to leverage the scheme,” said an IFS spokesperson. “This raises questions about whether it effectively targeted those most struggling with affordability.”
Critics have long argued that Help to Buy may have contributed to inflating house prices, particularly in the new-build sector, rather than making homeownership genuinely more accessible for the least affluent. The IFS report appears to corroborate these concerns by highlighting the income disparity among its beneficiaries.
The report’s findings will likely intensify calls for a thorough re-evaluation of government housing interventions. While the equity loan aspect of Help to Buy closed to new applications in October 2022, the insights from the IFS provide crucial lessons for future policies aimed at tackling the UK’s ongoing housing affordability crisis.
The government has previously defended Help to Buy, pointing to the hundreds of thousands of people it has supported in buying a home. However, the IFS’s reputation for rigorous, independent analysis means its conclusions will carry significant weight in future policy discussions.
