Andy Burnham’s proposed Your First Home scheme could make buying a new-build home possible with a smaller deposit, but its reported terms are not final rules. The central trade-off is real: help with upfront finance may widen access, while additional buying power can feed into prices. England’s completed Help to Buy scheme offers useful evidence about that trade-off, but it cannot tell us exactly what this proposal would do.
What is Your First Home?
Your First Home is the name of a first-time-buyer proposal discussed in a Mortgage Introducer article by James Murray, published on 5 October 2026. Murray reports that eligible buyers would be able to purchase new-build homes with a 2.5% deposit and a 20% government-backed equity loan. Those are reported proposal terms, not confirmed scheme rules.
The available information does not establish final eligibility criteria, a confirmed launch date, repayment terms, property or location limits, or consumer protections. Until official rules are published, buyers cannot know how the equity loan would be repaid, what it would cost, or precisely who could use it.
How does the proposal compare with Help to Buy?
Help to Buy is relevant because it also used government-backed finance to support buyers of new-build homes. The comparison is a guide to questions worth asking, not a forecast: Help to Buy operated in different market conditions, and the proposed scheme’s final design is not established.
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| Question | Your First Home | Help to Buy in England |
|---|---|---|
| Status and period | Proposal as reported by Mortgage Introducer on 5 October 2026; final rules and launch date not established. | Completed scheme covering 2013–2023, evaluated for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in 2026. |
| Buyer finance | Reported terms: a 2.5% deposit and a 20% government-backed equity loan for eligible first-time buyers purchasing new builds. Final repayment terms and eligibility are not established. | The evaluation reports that the scheme supported home ownership; the proposal’s reported deposit and loan terms are not evidence of Help to Buy terms. |
| Effect on access | Not established: the proposal has not been evaluated. | 54% of Help to Buy customers said they could have bought without the scheme; 46% said they could not, according to the 2026 MHCLG evaluation. |
| Effect on new-build supply | Not established: the proposal has not been evaluated. | Around 15% of new builds in England during Help to Buy 1 and 2 (2013–2023) were estimated to result from the scheme, according to the 2026 MHCLG evaluation. |
| Effect on prices | Not established. The claim that extra borrowing capacity could push prices higher is an argument about the proposal, not a measured result. | The 2026 MHCLG evaluation estimated an additional price premium of around 1% for Help to Buy homes compared with comparable new builds not bought through the scheme. |
What the Help to Buy evaluation tells us
The independent evaluation, commissioned by MHCLG and conducted by Verian with Alma Economics and Sheffield Hallam University, examined Help to Buy in England using survey, administrative and quasi-experimental analysis. Its overall findings were mixed: the scheme supported home ownership and increased housing supply, while likely contributing to modestly higher prices. The price effects were greater in places that were already less affordable.
The results also show why “buyers who used the scheme” should not be treated as one uniform group. In the evaluation, 54% said they could have bought without Help to Buy, while 46% said they could not. That distinction matters when judging whether public support chiefly helps buyers who would otherwise be excluded or also benefits buyers who could have purchased anyway.
The evaluation estimated Help to Buy’s net present social value over its lifetime at £25.1 billion in 2024/25 prices. MHCLG says that estimate was driven by the scheme’s supply effect; it does not count house-price effects as social benefits or disbenefits. The figure is therefore not a measure of buyers’ savings, nor a simple verdict that the programme was an unqualified success.
The evaluators also cautioned that market conditions have changed since Help to Buy began in 2013, including higher inflation and interest rates and greater availability of 95% mortgages. A past scheme’s estimated effects should not be transferred directly to a new proposal operating under different conditions.
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Could the equity loan increase prices or create negative-equity risk?
Why access can come with a price trade-off
Charlie Lamdin, founder of BestAgent, argues that expanding buyers’ borrowing capacity can be capitalised into house prices: if more buyers can offer more, sellers or developers may capture some of that additional spending power. He warns that high borrowing could leave buyers exposed to negative equity if property values fall, particularly when they have a short time horizon. Calling the proposal “a really disappointing setback on the road to affordable homes” was Lamdin’s opinion, as reported by James Murray—not an observed outcome from a scheme that has yet to be evaluated.
The Help to Buy evaluation lends some support to the concern that a buyer-support scheme can coincide with price effects, but it does not prove what would happen under Your First Home. The estimated premium was modest for the evaluated scheme, varied with local affordability, and arose under different rules and market conditions. The proposal’s effect on prices, buyer outcomes and construction is not established.
What negative equity means for a buyer
Negative equity occurs when a home’s value falls below the debt secured against it. A small initial deposit can leave less of a buffer against a fall in value, but a buyer’s actual exposure depends on the mortgage, the equity-loan terms, repayments, the property’s value and how long the buyer holds it. The proposal’s final loan and repayment rules are not established, so its precise risk cannot yet be assessed.
Lamdin’s framing distinguishes, for example, a buyer expecting to hold a freehold house for many years from someone buying a leasehold flat who may need to move within five years. That is a risk lens, not an individualized prediction: property type and likely time horizon can affect the consequences of a price fall, but neither guarantees a particular outcome.
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What should buyers check before relying on the proposal?
Do not make a purchase plan on the basis of the reported headline terms alone. Once official scheme rules are available, check the details that determine both eligibility and the cost of borrowing:
- Who qualifies: the definition of first-time buyer, any income or household conditions, and whether eligibility depends on location.
- What can be bought: whether the scheme covers only particular new builds, and any price cap or property restrictions.
- What the equity loan costs: how its balance is calculated, whether charges apply, and when and how repayment is required.
- How the finance fits together: the mortgage amount, deposit, equity loan and total repayment obligations—not just the initial cash needed to buy.
- What happens if plans change: the rules for selling, moving, refinancing or repaying early, and what happens if the property’s value falls.
- Whether the home works without optimistic price assumptions: consider affordability, local prices and your likely time horizon rather than assuming the home will rise in value.
Because those terms are not established in the reported proposal, anyone considering it should wait for official rules and speak with an independent regulated mortgage adviser before making a decision. The MHCLG evaluation is evidence about Help to Buy in England, not an announcement or rulebook for Your First Home.
Is Your First Home the wrong answer to the right question?
The right question is how to make home ownership accessible without worsening affordability or leaving buyers vulnerable to debt they cannot comfortably manage. A smaller deposit could help some first-time buyers cross the entry barrier, but the proposal’s final terms will determine how the loan works, while its effect on prices and supply remains unknown.
Help to Buy shows that government-backed support can expand ownership and contribute to new-build supply, while also being associated with modest price effects that were stronger in less affordable areas. It does not settle whether Your First Home will strike that balance. The answer depends on the scheme’s eventual rules and how they interact with the housing market buyers actually face.
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