Our Help to Buy calculator will give you a quick indication of whether you're likely to be able to buy a home using a Help to Buy equity loan, based on your income, property price and location.
**There are now varying price caps on Help to Buy equity loans depending on where in England or Wales you're buying (see our Help to Buy equity loans guide for details). You can no longer take out an equity loan in Scotland. We are updating our calculator to reflect this and will publish it here as soon as possible.**
How does Help to Buy work in different parts of the UK?
Help to Buy equity loans enable homebuyers to purchase a new-build property using a government loan. The size of loan and maximum property price vary according to where you're buying.
- England (excluding London): regional price caps are in place, limiting the maximum cost of homes sold under the scheme. You can take out an equity loan covering up to 20% of the property's value.
- London: homes priced up to £600,000 are eligible. You can take out an equity loan of up to 40%.
- Wales: homes priced up to £250,000 are eligible. You can take out an equity loan of up to 20%.
Scotland's Help to Buy scheme closed to new applications in February 2021, and no equivalent scheme is available in Northern Ireland.
Are you eligible for Help to Buy?
Help to Buy equity loans are only available on new-build homes. The scheme is limited to first-time buyers in England, but is available to both first-time buyers and home movers in Wales.
To qualify, you must:
- have at least 5% deposit
- be planning to buy a home within the scheme's price limits
- be purchasing a property you intend to use as your primary home
Find out more about Help to Buy
While taking out a Help to Buy equity loan to boost your buying power might sound like a no-brainer, there are a number of pros and cons to this scheme.
Check out our guide to Help to Buy equity loans to find out more.
