DOZENS of first-time buyers bought a home through the Government's Help to Buy equity loan scheme in Wyre Forest last year, figures reveal.

But housing campaigners claim the scheme is “sticking a plaster” on the failure to build enough homes nationally, while doing nothing to help renters with no savings.

Until March 31, the scheme allowed buyers to borrow up to 20% of the value of a new build home – rising to 40% in London – provided they paid at least a 5% deposit and the home cost no more than £600,000.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data shows 43 loans were given to first-time buyers in Wyre Forest using the scheme in the year to March – 21 more than the previous year.

They were among 54 households in the area which benefitted from the scheme, meaning 80% of the loans were handed out to people buying their first home.

The loans amounted to £2.8 million in total – equating to an average of £52,700.

Across England, £4 billion worth of Help to Buy loans were handed out in 2020-21, when more than 55,600 households benefitted from the scheme – a record high.

More than four in five were first-time buyers.

But Priced Out, which campaigns for affordable house prices, said the fact so many people have to borrow money to buy their first home shows a “failure” to control house price inflation.

Anya Martin, director, said: “Prices have risen faster than incomes for decades now, and all because we have failed to meet higher demand with higher supply.

“The Government is not doing enough to ensure more people can buy their first home.

“They hold the levers to stabilise or bring down house prices, but instead of allowing more homes to be built, they keep pumping up the market with more cash.”