The government's Your First Home scheme will provide £4.7bn in equity loans to help 70,000 first-time buyer households and support 20,000 new homes. Income caps are set at £140,000 in London and £110,000 elsewhere, which experts view as reasonable. However, property price caps of £650,000 for inner London and £500,000 for outer London are drawing criticism.
Tom Goodall, chief executive of Related Argent, says the outer London cap "needs an urgent rethink" because the average first-time buyer price in the capital is already £473,000, leaving little headroom. Andy Hill of The Hill Group notes 25-50% of his London stock would exceed the cap, and warns of demarcation issues between inner and outer boroughs. Rightmove data shows varying eligibility across regions: 20% of new builds in Reading qualify under a £375,000 cap, 18% in Middlesbrough under £220,000, and 60% in Manchester under £355,000.
High interest rates further limit the scheme's impact; average mortgage repayments on a 5% deposit have risen about £150 a month since November 2025. The Office for Budget Responsibility expects only a marginal effect on housing supply, forecasting 190,000 fewer net additions over the period.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing