New First Time House Buyer Scheme Welcomed by CPA

The government has announced a new house equity loan scheme for first time buyers, called Your First Home, that will operate in England and will be confirmed at next month’s Budget.

The scheme is expected to support 2.5% deposits, backed by 20% government-backed equity loans. The loans will be for prospective first-time buyers purchasing a new-build property from a developer signed up to the scheme.

The equity loans will offer an initial interest free period, making it competitive compared to a 95% mortgage and helping to tackle the deposit barrier.

The scheme will also set a household income cap with local property price caps to further ensure support is targeted at those who need it, the detail of which will be set out at Budget.

First Time House Buyer Scheme

The Construction Products Association (CPA) has welcomed the announcement of the scheme, saying it could provide an important boost to house building and support the construction supply chain.

The announcement comes as house building remains significantly below previous levels:

Noble Francis, Economics Director at the Construction Products Association, said: “House building completions in 2026 Q2 were 3.4% lower than in Q1 and 27.3% lower than five years ago, so it was clear that house building needed an urgent government stimulus.

“The CPA had been calling for a new first-time buyer equity loan scheme for new-build housing, and so the Government’s announcement of ‘Your First Home’ is an important step to prevent house building from falling further in the near-term and then to boost housing supply in the medium-term.

“Affordability is the key issue in more expensive parts of the country and ‘Your First Home’ will help with this.

Costs of Building

Noble Francis added, “However, in less expensive areas, the bigger problem is site viability, due to all the government’s extra costs on house building.

“This also needs to be addressed if we are to see a significant ramp-up in house building in the next 12 to 18 months.

“We will need to see the detail of the policy, particularly the price caps and income thresholds, to understand how far these restrictions may limit its impact.”

Developers will be expected to make a contribution when signing up to the scheme to help cover costs.

Further details, including costs and implementation timelines, will be announced by the Chancellor at the Budget next month.

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