This is the state’s guarantee to lenders against 95 per cent mortgages so that first-time buyers have to find a five per cent deposit rather than a 10 per cent one.
Analysis from Hamptons finds that 37 per cent of FTBs currently pay stamp duty in London; by April this will have risen to 71 per cent.
Rightmove calculates that 25 per cent of properties in London are below £425,000, but only eight per cent are under £300,000.
A typical first-time buyer must now amass a 30 per cent deposit of around £142,588 to get on the ladder in the capital, about two-and-a-half times the amount needed anywhere else in Britain (£58,000).
She points to a leaked letter from Matthew Pennycook, the new housing minister, to Matthew Freeman, the chair of Homes England, stating: “I would like you to take steps to ensure that the agency is maximising the number of social rent homes.”.
