Open Market Homebuy Scheme 'helping first time buyers'

11-Jun-2007

First time buyers are being helped onto the property ladder by the government's Open Market Homebuy Scheme (OMHB), a mortgage lender has advised.

Yorkshire Building Society has said that 54 per cent of borrowers who have enrolled in the scheme, designed to help key workers in the public sector, have been under the age of 30.

The no deposit, 75 per cent mortgage shared equity scheme means that new homeowners are making an average monthly saving of £147 on their interest repayments when compared to average payments on a 100 per cent mortgage, the building society has advised.

"Despite a slow start to the scheme, which is due to the process of confirming customer eligibility, OMHB has now taken off at a more rapid rate than we had anticipated […] whilst this scheme is not the solution for all first time buyers, it is giving support to many individuals who need it most," advised Yorkshire Building Society's Andy Caton.

Mortgage repayments now make up almost half of the average first time buyer's income compared with just a third three years ago, the Nationwide Building Society has revealed.

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