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Mortgage guides

Affordable home ownership schemes

There are several affordable home schemes available to help with a house purchase. Find out how you might receive help to buy your first home and get a mortgage.

NatWest mortgages are available to over 18s. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. The content on this page is guidance only and does not constitute advice.

What are the home ownership schemes?

There are different home ownership schemes that can help first time buyers to buy their own home. These include the First Homes scheme, Forces Help to Buy and Right to Buy. However, each scheme has a different name and helps people in different ways so it can be confusing.

 

We have listed affordable mortgage schemes that are available with NatWest and could help you to buy your first home, plus those that aren't. 

Unavailable schemes*

*This is not a complete list of unavailable home ownership schemes.

Information Message

Right to Buy

  • The Right to Buy scheme allows eligible council and housing association tenants to buy their home in England with a discount of up to £84,600 (£112,800 in London).
  • Full eligibility can be found on the gov.uk website, including an eligibility checker tool. The scheme is only available to those who have had a public sector landlord for at least 3 years and are secure tenants.
  • We don't currently accept online mortgage applications for those purchasing property via the Right to Buy scheme, but you can speak with one of our qualified mortgage advisers to apply.

Forces Help to Buy

  • Forces Help to Buy is a scheme to help service personnel borrow up to 50% of their salary, up to £25,000 interest free towards a mortgage for buying a property.
  • The scheme is available for new and existing properties with a maximum value of £300,000. Discover full eligibility on the gov.uk website, plus full information about how the scheme works. 

What affordable home schemes are available in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?

For buyers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, house buying schemes may be different to those in England. For instance, for buyers in Scotland, there are also the LIFT schemes available.

 

Find out more about these schemes if you live in;

England, visit gov.uk

Scotland, visit mygov.scot

Wales, visit gov.wales

Northern Ireland, visit NI direct

help to buy schemes logo

What is Help to Buy?

'Help to Buy' is the name given to several UK government backed mortgage and home ownership schemes.

Some of the more popular home ownership schemes have now ended including Help to Buy ISA and the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme in England. Please note, the Help to Buy mortgage scheme is still available in Wales.

Which home ownership schemes have ended?

Some of the most popular schemes have now ended to new applicants. We have included further information about what these schemes involved.

Help to Buy: Equity Loan Scheme

  • The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme was a government incentive designed to help those purchasing property with a first time buyer mortgage.
  • The scheme allowed first time buyers to take out an equity loan to cover from 5% and up to 20% of the property purchase price of a newly built home (up to 40% if the property is in London). 
Information Message

Help to Buy: ISA

  • A 'Help to Buy: ISA' is a savings account that includes a government bonus on the money saved, if it is used towards buying a first home.
  • They're no longer open to new applications.
  • However, if you have an existing NatWest Help to Buy: ISA, you can manage it here.
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Mortgage Guarantee Scheme

  • The UK government mortgage guarantee scheme was launched in April 2021 with the scheme open to new 95% mortgages until 30 June 2025.
  • The scheme provided support for banking institutions to offer 91% - 95% LTV mortgages
  • Mortgages issued under the scheme were backed by the UK Government. This meant, if you were unable to pay back what you borrow, the UK Government would financially support the lender to help mitigate any losses.
Information Message

Help to Buy: Equity Loan FAQs

Mortgage schemes - more options