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Housing Minster Margaret Beckett has agreed a deal worth more than £400 million to help first time buyers who aspire to buy their own home and help the tackle the current difficulties in the economy.

Over 130 developers will now be able to offer the HomeBuy Direct Scheme and help 18,000 first time buyers purchase a home to specific sites across England. This will be aided by an equity loan funded by the developer and the Government. The loan will be free for the first five years and can be used as a deposit for cover up to 30 per cent of the purchase price.

This will mean a first-time buyer can purchase a house for £180,000 for a little as £126,000. However with the other HomeBuy schemes you will be only available to apply for this scheme if your household earns less than £60,000.

First time buyers who are eligible will be able to apply for the scheme from early 2009 by contacting a HomeBuy agent in their region.

     Housing Minister Margaret Beckett said:

“We are determined to give families real help in the current economic climate. For many young families who aspire to own a home, the difficulties in the housing market have made the step on to the property ladder that bit harder. This deal will give them more support and put their dream of becoming home owners within reach. At the same time, this scheme will also help developers to weather the tough times in the market, by protecting jobs and helping to keep business going.”

     Sir Bob Kerslake Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency said:

“There has been a tremendous response from developers to this scheme and we believe there is demand from purchasers who want to get on the property ladder. Our flexibility means that we have been able to add in additional funding from the National Affordable Housing Progamme to meet demand and respond quickly to the market.”

HomeBuy Direct is designed to help families to get onto the housing ladder and have already helped more than 110,000 buy their own homes. The Government has been helping people since 1997 with shared equity and shared ownership deals and is investing a further £8 billion over the next 3 years (2008-2011) for the provision of new affordable housing for both low cost home wnership and social rent.