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Prime Minister

Thank you very much. Well, it鈥檚 been a great pleasure and a real privilege to welcome all these people to Number 10 Downing Street who are benefiting from the government鈥檚 Help to Buy scheme. It鈥檚 worth remembering why we introduced this scheme. There are thousands of people in our country who work hard, who want to own their own home, but because of the problems in the banking system, they haven鈥檛 been able to get a mortgage. And so they鈥檝e been living at home, or they鈥檝e been renting relatively expensive property when they鈥檇 like to have a mortgage and a home of their own.

And all of these people, they find that they can afford the mortgage payments. That鈥檚 not been the problem. The problem has been getting together the deposit. And that鈥檚 why the government鈥檚 Help to Buy scheme, making sure that there are 90% and 95% mortgages out there in the market, has made such a difference. So all the people behind me are well on the way to achieving their dream of owning a flat or a home of their own.

Now of course there have been lots of critics of this scheme. People said, will it be big enough? Well, it certainly has got off to an extraordinary start: 75 families every day have taken the step to achieving their dream of home-ownership. A third of a billion pounds of mortgages has so far been agreed.

There were some who wondered whether it would only be confined to the south of England. That hasn鈥檛 been the case. Lloyds, for instance, have found that 80% of their customers for Help to Buy are outside London and the south-east.

Some people thought it might only benefit those buying relatively expensive properties. Again, that鈥檚 not the case. The typical property being bought under this scheme is around the average house price in the UK.

So this is a successful scheme. Those are the numbers, but this is about more than numbers. It鈥檚 about hard-working people achieving their dream of home-ownership. And it鈥檚 part of the government鈥檚 long-term plan for getting our economy moving.

One point that people were concerned about was would this just add to house prices, rather than actually generating more house building. Well, we can see this year house building up by a third. So I believe this scheme is not only helping hardworking people achieve their dreams; it鈥檚 also helping the long-term plan that the government has for turning our economy round.

Some questions.

Question

Prime Minister, you introduced the scheme because house prices were unaffordable for many. But if you were tackling new demand, but not necessarily the supply through Help to Buy, isn鈥檛 that just going to make the problem worse?

Prime Minister

Well, this is tackling 2 problems. First, the problem that there are many young people who can afford a mortgage but are struggling to save for the deposit because there aren鈥檛 95% mortgages available. This makes those mortgages available. We鈥檙e not encouraging people to buy homes they can鈥檛 afford, or have mortgages they can鈥檛 afford; we鈥檙e helping them get mortgages they can afford.

But secondly, it does help unlock the problem of a shortage of housing supply. Put frankly, the builders won鈥檛 build, the developers won鈥檛 develop unless the buyers are able to buy. And that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e seeing now growing levels of housing investment and house-building in our country. The 2 issues are linked.

Question

Lots of people say that, unless people have help from the bank of mum and dad, it鈥檚 very hard to get on the ladder. And Sir John Major鈥檚 been talking about his shock at the level of social mobility in this country. Do you share Sir John鈥檚 concerns?

Prime Minister

Well, I think this is about social mobility. The fact is that, without Help to Buy, we were beginning to see a country where only people who had wealthy mums and dads who could give them the money for the deposit, were able to buy a flat or a house. Many of the people standing behind me, they鈥檝e been able to buy a flat or a house because they can now get a bigger mortgage without such a large deposit. They can afford those mortgage payments and they鈥檒l be able to achieve their dream of owning their flat or their home.

This scheme is about social mobility. It鈥檚 about helping people who don鈥檛 have rich parents to get on and to achieve their dreams of home-ownership, which is why it鈥檚 so welcome.

Thank you very much.