At a glance 

The Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme is closed to new applications. 

• Help to Buy was announced in the March 2013 Budget. It is a package of measures that was introduced to increase the supply of low-deposit mortgages for creditworthy households. There are two elements: 
  • Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee 
  • Help to Buy: equity loan schemes  
• The Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme was intended to be a temporary measure. It opened on 2 January 2014 and closed on 31 December 2016. The guarantee is valid for seven years after the mortgage originated. 
• The scheme was designed to increase lending to creditworthy households with deposits of 5 per cent to 20 per cent by providing a guarantee to lenders in the event that the borrower defaults.   
• HM Treasury publishes quarterly scheme statistics.