Today saw the publication of the latest set of figures with regards to the Help To Buy 2 scheme.
Amongst other things it put a massive damper on all those who had argued that it could be fuelling a property bubble in London, no doubt much to the satisfaction of the Chancellor.
These latest statistics show that whilst Help to Buy 2 may be many things, it’s effect on house prices in London seems to have been negligible with only 5% of the 7,313 sales taking place in the capital.
In fact, only 2 were recorded in property hotspots such as Kensington & Chelsea, 2 in Hammersmith and none in the City.
Taken into context against 100,000 house sales each month this is a very small figure and the argument that Help to Buy is stoking a house price bubble does seem wide of the mark at present.
Saying this however, it is evident that with the majority of transactions taking place outside the capital and under £250,000, the cap of £600,000 should be cut in half to reduce future temptations.
Together with anecdotal evidence suggesting prices may have reached a plateau as buyers refuse to pay higher prices and the tighter lending controls of the Mortgage Market Review beginning to have an effect, we could be seeing the start of a more natural correction in house price growth.
As these figures show, you should not jump to conclusions about the causes of price rises and how to deal with them.
The reality of any proposed tightening that effects the residential mortgage market only is that it does not deal with some of the deeper underlying issues of lack of good quality homes in high demand areas many of which are snapped up by cash buyers, foreign nationals and buy-to-let investors.