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Help to Buy ISAs taken out 'every 30 seconds' in UK

Help to Buy ISAs taken out 'every 30 seconds' in UK

A quarter of a million homebuyers have opened a Help to Buy ISA since their introduction in December of last year, Chancellor George Osborne has revealed.

This total is equivalent to a savings account being opened every 30 seconds.

Furthermore, the first homebuyers to utilise Help to Buy ISAs have obtained their £50 Government bonus.

First-time buyers who make use of the scheme can save up to £200 a month in a tax-free savings account, which the Government will top up in the form of a 25% bonus. The maximum amount that will be provided in bonus payments is £3,000.

New homebuyers also have the option to open a Help to Buy ISA account with a lump sum of £1,000. This one-off sum would be in addition to the monthly maximum.

Commenting on the Help to Buy ISA scheme, Chancellor George Osborne stated: ‘Last year I announced further help for first time buyers with the new Help to Buy ISA and I’m delighted that a quarter of a million people have already taken advantage. It is all part of our plan to back working people who are doing the right thing and saving for their first home’.

However, some critics believe that the scheme could inflate demand for properties and that the £2 billion cost of the Help to Buy ISA scheme could have been better utilised in the construction of thousands of new, affordable homes.