Banks offering Help to Buy Isa named
- Published
Some of the banks and building societies participating in the government's Help to Buy Isa scheme have been named.
Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander and Virgin Money have confirmed they will offer the savings product.
It is aimed at helping first-time buyers save for a deposit and includes a government top-up.
The industry has said the scheme should run alongside building more homes.
First-time buyers purchasing an owner-occupied home worth up to £250,000, or £450,000 in London, will be eligible for a Help to Buy Isa when it launches on 1 December.
The monthly maximum contribution from savers into a Help to Buy Isa will be £200, following an initial deposit of up to £1,000, with the government adding £50 a month at the most.
The accounts will run indefinitely once opened. But if someone accumulates £12,000 over that time, a maximum of £3,000 will be added by the taxpayer.
Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that a typical first-time buyer faces paying 5.1% more for a property than they did a year ago. The average price paid for a starter home in May was £211,000.
Data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed that the typical first-time buyer needed a deposit of 18.6% in May.
Earlier in the week, accountancy firm PwC predicted more than half of the under-40s would be renting homes from private landlords in the UK in 10 years' time.