Welsh government supports first timers with mortgage guarantee scheme | Housing network | Guardian Professional

Welsh government supports first timers with mortgage guarantee scheme | Housing network | Guardian Professional

Up to 3,000 people could be helped to buy a home in Wales as the Welsh government unveils plans for a £27m mortgage guarantee scheme to kick-start the housing market.
Under the scheme all buyers, not just those looking for their first property, will be able to borrow up to 95% of the value of their homes from lenders with government and housebuilders helping to underwrite the loan and share the risk. Buyers would then need only contribute a deposit of 5% of the cost of the home. Traditional mortgage lenders now often require deposits of 20% of the cost of the property.
The scheme, which can be used for the purchase of new build homes up to a value of £250,000, will run for three and half years and is seen as a way to help people onto or further up the property ladder by reducing the requirement to save an often impossible sum for young buyers while average wages are frozen. The Welsh government hopes the scheme will unlock potential investment of up to £500m into the housing market.