Government measures to help first-time buyers are a 'drop in the ocean'

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New additions to the Open Market HomeBuy scheme (OMHB) have been described as "a drop in the ocean" by Firstrung.

In this year's Budget, chancellor Alistair Darling announced proposals to help boost the purchasing power of first-time buyers by up to 50 per cent with the introduction of new home loans. He also announced grants of £1,500 to help those who qualified for affordable housing schemes.

But Firstrung chief executive Paul Holmes said the availability of two new equity loans under the scheme is evidence of "deliberate tinkering by central government in order to encourage as many late entry first-time buyers as possible".

He continued: "Over the past couple of weeks we've had talk of a measly £1,500 grant but then you discover that this isn't a grant but merely a small discount off the preferred government developments," he stated.

First-time buyers are in fact getting a discount of about 0.5 per cent off of the value of an overpriced property, he said.

He went on to say that first-time buyers have been disenfranchised at a time when Gordon Brown's so-called economic boom "was built on nothing but credit".

Originally launched in 2006, the OMHB is a shared equity scheme designed to help would-be homebuyers enter the housing market. However, only 2,000 homeowners have taken up the government's offer.

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