Help to Buy scheme – more homes bought in Flintshire than anywhere else in North Wales.

More homes have been bought in Flintshire through the successful Help to Buy – Wales scheme than anywhere else in North Wales.

New figures show that 158 homes have been bought in Flintshire in the period January 2014 to the end of March 2015. Only Newport saw more purchases completed – topping the Welsh polls with 175 homes bought – and Ceredigion has the lowest at five.

Flintshire’s neighbours Denbighshire and Wrexham saw 21 and 52 homes bought through the scheme respectively.

Taking account of population the completed purchases in Flintshire amount to 103.1 per 100,000, significantly higher than the Welsh average of 44.7 per 100,000 population.

Across Wales 1,378 homes were bought under the £170m initiative, with £48.7m provided by the Labour Welsh Government in equity loans and the value of the properties purchased totalling £245.7m.

The statistics show the shared equity scheme is helping many people get a first foot on the property ladder, with first time buyers accounting for 74 per cent of completions. The figures also reveal the average purchase price of a property bought using Help to Buy – Wales was £178,290.

With house builders reporting around a further 600 purchases in the immediate pipeline, the scheme is on track to support the construction of 5,000 new homes across Wales.

“It’s fantastic to see that the Help to Buy – Wales scheme has taken off so well in Flintshire,” said Alyn and Deeside AM Carl Sargeant.

“I know that before receiving help through this scheme so many local people thought they would never buy a home because it was impossible to save a big cash deposit.

“The initiative has made it a lot easier for people to buy a high quality, safe and affordable home of their own.

“Not only that but the scheme is a big boon to the housing industry, with 174 builders across the country now offering Help to Buy – Wales shared equity loans on their properties.”