NewBuy - Government backed mortgage indemnity guarantee
NewBuy is a Government backed 'mortgage indemnity' scheme that aims to help people with small deposits buy a new build home in England. Launched in March 2012, the NewBuy scheme enables people to buy a newly-built home with a deposit of just 5% of the purchase price.
The scheme was introduced to help people who cannot buy their first new home, or move house, because of the large deposit lenders require to secure a mortgage in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The scheme is designed to protect the lenders against losses in the unfortunate event of repossession, making 90-95% mortgages more readily available.
The NewBuy scheme is only available for new build homes that are:
- a new build – that is, being sold for the first time.
- Sold for £500,000 or less
- your main home (NewBuy cannot be used to buy a second home or a buy-to-let property)
- owned fully by you (NewBuy is not available for shared-ownership or shared-equity purchases see FirstBuy)
- built by a house builder taking part in the NewBuy scheme
To qualify for a NewBuild mortgage, you must be either a UK citizen or someone with the right to remain indefinitely in the UK buying a new build home. The mortgage indemnity is provided for the lender not the home buyer and it does not change the borrower's responsibility and liability to repay the mortgage in any way.
NewBuy is not restricted to first-time buyers and there are no income limits. NewBuy cannot be used with any other publicly funded mortgage scheme.
NewBuy mortgages are offered by Barclays, Nat West, Halifax, Santander and Nationwide. Most of the larger national house builders now operate the scheme joining with lenders that offer NewBuy. NewBuy will be largely replaced by the new Help-To-Buy "Mortgage Guarantee" announced in the 2013 Budget which from 1 January 2014 for three years, will extend the scheme to all residential properties not just new build homes.
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