LESS than three months on from the start of the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, more than 6,000 people have put in offers on a home and applied for a mortgage, the Government says.

It means that in just 12 weeks, nearly 750 home owners in the UK have completed their purchases.

The mortgages represent nearly £1 billion of new lending to aspiring home owners who may have previously found the property market out of reach because of the size of deposit required.

As part of the long-term economic plan to build a stronger, more competitive economy, the government says it is committed to increasing the supply of housing and supporting those who aspire to own their own home.

New figures also show that an additional 20,000 households have been supported by the Help to Buy equity loan scheme, a separate scheme where the Government provides an interest-free loan to support the purchase of the newly-built home.

The government says that house building is now growing at its fastest rate since 2008 – and house building will remain a critical part of the country’s recovery.

Figures show that, on average, households are looking to buy homes worth £160,000, which remains below the UK average house price of £247,000, and applicants will face average monthly repayments of around £900 and have an annual household income of around £45,000. This means a Help to Buy mortgage represents 23 per cent of borrowers’ gross income.

Help to Buy mortgage applications are still coming in from across the country, with 80 per cent of them from first time buyers.