First time buyers urged to register interest in FirstBuy initiative

First time buyers seeking to take advantage of the government's FirstBuy initiative in order to buy a new home are being urged to register their interest in the new loan equity scheme now to avoid disappointment.

New home developers generally expect applications for the new scheme to outweigh supply, which in turn should increase demand for new homes to buy.

Persimmon Homes, for example, has launched a registration page on its website prior to the announcement of the allocation of applicable FirstBuy plots in June, due to the unprecedented demand from first time buyers already looking for support, such as shared equity, to buy a new home.

FirstBuy, which was announced in the Budget on 23 March, is aimed at helping first time buyers onto the property ladder with a smaller mortgage deposit. It is similar to the previous government's HomeBuy Direct Scheme, of which Persimmon Homes had the largest allocation - 20% of all applicable plots in the country - assisting over 2,000 purchasers to buy their first home.

Steve Roche, group communications director for Persimmon Homes, says: "We recognise just how important first time buyers are in sustaining the property market and welcomed the announcement of the FirstBuy loan equity scheme.

"There will however only be a set allocation of plots that will be able to be bought through the scheme and, once these are gone, we are, at this stage, unsure whether any additional plots will be made available.

"It is therefore extremely important for people to mark their interest in the scheme prior to the specific allocations being announced to ensure that, in June, they are at the top of the list to benefit from the support."

For buyers that do not meet the requirements of FirstBuy, which is expected to help 10,000 families get onto the property ladder, Persimmon Homes also offers its own Shared Equity Scheme and homes that can be bought through the Kickstart II initiative.