First-time buyer scheme paused as funding dries up

£12m was spent on the First Step scheme

A scheme to help first-time buyers in Jersey has been paused, the island's Housing Minister has confirmed.

Deputy Sam Mezec has been speaking to members of the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel about the First Step scheme.

He explained £12m had been used already to help people in the island get onto the housing ladder - but funding had run out.

Mezec will review the scheme before considering if he will ask for further funding for the scheme, he added.

Housing Minister Deputy Sam Mezec told politicans now was not the time to push for more funding

The scheme was launched last year and figures in June showed more than 50 homes had since been purchased through this funding.

It provided up to 40% of the purchase of a home on the open market, Mezec said.

He said: "I'd be lying if I said if I said I've had an offer from Treasury or the Council of Ministers for more money – I wouldn't have said no to that."

"But I didn't feel it was the time to push for that and fight over other important resourcing," he added.