SAM Conveyancing warns restricting Your First Home to new builds will inflate developer profits
Property experts are warning that the Government’s Your First Home scheme risks repeating the price-inflating failures of Help to Buy. SAM Conveyancing is urging the Treasury to open the program to the resale market before the 28 October 2026 Autumn Budget locks in a new-build-only model.
A new-build restriction would confine government-backed equity loan cases to developer-led sales, limiting client choice from day one.
Chancellor John Healey is expected to confirm full scheme details at the Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026. The program offers first-time buyers in England a 20% government equity loan with a 2.5% deposit requirement, targeting buyers without family financial support.
Andrew Boast, chief executive of SAM Conveyancing, argues the policy is structurally flawed. HM Land Registry data shows the average new-build in England and Wales now costs 40.1% more than an established home.
That gap stood at £396,889 against £283,194 for existing stock as of May 2026.
If you don't have help from the bank of Mum and Dad, this is for you:
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) September 26, 2026
This government is introducing the Your First Home scheme to help more young people buy their first home with a deposit of just 2.5%.
That means less to save upfront, and lower monthly costs once you’ve got… pic.twitter.com/zWX6h8Ewpq
The legacy of Help to Buy
Help to Buy ran from April 2013 to March 2023. Official figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show 387,000 homes were purchased under the scheme, supporting 328,000 first-time buyers.
New-build prices rose 70.1% over that decade, outpacing the 65.6% increase across the wider market, according to HM Land Registry data.
Housing delivery barely moved in response. SAM Conveyancing’s analysis of government housebuilding statistics shows completions averaged 152,791 dwellings per year across that period. The pre-financial crisis peak was 223,590 completions in 2007.
The government is currently running at around 143,000 completions annually. That is fewer than half the 300,000 needed to reach the 1.5 million homes pledge.
“Help to Buy was presented as a cure for Britain’s housing crisis, but the data proves it functioned primarily as a price-support mechanism for volume housebuilders,” Boast said. “Developers simply baked that extra purchasing power straight into their asking prices.”
What does the Your First Home scheme mean for mortgage brokers?
A scheme limited to new builds confines broker conversations to developer-led sales. Those come with 28-day exchange ultimatums, complex plot covenants and higher conveyancing costs.
Opening the Your First Home scheme to existing freehold houses and flats would instantly widen the addressable pool for advisers. Brokers could offer government-backed equity loan routes across a far wider range of stock.
It would also unblock the second-stepper chain. Existing homeowners are stuck in starter homes — incoming buyers cannot raise conventional deposits to free them. Opening the scheme could finally unlock that chain and restore movement across the market.
“If Chancellor John Healey genuinely wants to get Britain moving, he should let first-time buyers use this scheme on any property they choose,” Boast said.
How would the Your First Home scheme protect buyers from price inflation?
SAM Conveyancing is also proposing a valuation guardrail to prevent seller price inflation. Any equity loan on an existing property would be capped at an independent RICS-regulated surveyor’s valuation, not the agreed sale price.
“Requiring the 20% equity stake to match professional valuation ensures complete transparency and prevents localised price bubbles,” Boast said.
If the Treasury acts on the proposal, the Budget could reshape the first-time buyer mortgage market in ways that go well beyond new-build sites. A whole-of-market Your First Home scheme would give advisers and their clients a genuinely expanded set of options. Brokers should be ready to advise on both routes from Budget day.
