Government scheme 'helping London homeowners'

The Open Market Homebuy Scheme (OMHB) launched by the government in October has caught on in London and the surround areas, it has been revealed, with a 71 per cent take up rate.

The Yorkshire Building Society has said that the key worker scheme is also popular with its customers under the age of 30, with 54 per cent of homebuyers borrowing through the scheme falling into that demographic.

And by offering a 75 per cent loan and avoiding deposits, homeowners are able to buy a £160,000 property with mortgage payments equivalent to a £120,000 loan, the lender has revealed.

"Despite a slow start to the Scheme, which is due to the process of confirming customer eligibility, OMHB has now taken off at a more rapid rate than we had anticipated," commented Andy Caton of Yorkshire Building Society.

The typical house price in London is now 6.8 per cent the average first time buyer salary, recent research from Nationwide Building Society has revealed.


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