P.E. teacher uses Help to Buy to get on the property ladder

Barry is one of a number of first-time buyers who have taken their first step onto the property ladder at Bridleways, off New North Road.

The 28-year-old P.E. teacher moved back to his family home in Woodford after university to save up a deposit to buy a property. He made use of the government’s Help to Buy scheme to purchase his two-bedroom apartment at Bridleways with just a 5% deposit.

The development of 99 homes, which is being built by Fairview New Homes, has just sold out.

Barry says: “Help to Buy has been such a rewarding tool for me personally – it meant that I could afford my apartment a lot sooner than expected, as I just needed the 5% deposit, and it’s also meant that I could afford to buy a larger apartment than I first thought possible.

“Being able to put a deposit down of as little as 5% on a new home is brilliant and is a great support to people like me who want to be a homeowner as soon as possible.”

Jim Holliday, sales and marketing director for Fairview, says: “We’ve welcomed a large number of first-time buyers to Bridleways who, like Barry, have taken advantage of Help to Buy to become homeowners.

“The scheme has just been extended in London, offering even more assistance for buyers – particularly first-time purchasers – in the capital.

“When we acquired the covered reservoir site it was disused and redundant, and we are well on the way to finishing work and leaving behind an established new community for Hainault.”

Building work on the final homes at Bridleways is expected to be completed in late summer.

The Help to Buy scheme enables buyers to purchase a new home with a 5% deposit and 75% mortgage, with the remaining 20% provided by the government as an equity loan.

The new Help to Buy London scheme, which was introduced in February, now gives buyers the option to purchase with a 5% deposit and 55% mortgage. The remaining 40% of the purchase price is provided as an equity loan from the government which is interest-free for five years.

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