Government Review Finds Help-to-Buy Scheme Offered ‘Very High Value for Money’

A government review has concluded that the help-to-buy scheme, introduced under former chancellor George Osborne to reduce costs for first-time home buyers, represented "very high value for money," according to the Guardian.

The official audit calculated that the programme delivered £25bn of social value to the UK in the last financial year, the review reportedly found, despite long-standing criticism that the scheme was overly expensive and served mainly to inflate house prices rather than improve affordability.

The findings are said to bolster the position of senior government figures who have been arguing for the scheme to be resurrected, according to the report.

Help-to-buy was launched by Osborne to make it easier for first-time buyers to purchase homes by reducing upfront costs. The programme has faced sustained criticism from some economists and housing experts, who argued it primarily benefited developers and pushed up property prices rather than genuinely expanding access to home ownership.

The Guardian reported that the review's conclusions are likely to feature in ongoing debates within government about whether to reintroduce a similar scheme to support first-time buyers.

Further details of the review's methodology and its authors were not fully specified in the available report.