Help To Buy scheme will 'drive house prices up'
The Government's Help To Buy scheme will have the reverse effect from what it set out to do and make home ownership less accessible by driving up prices, a think tank has warned.
The Adam Smith Institute said Help To Buy will simply increase demand for houses without a similar increase in supply, therefore driving up house prices.
Those on the scheme will benefit from the extra leg-up, while those not on the scheme will be left behind, they said.
The Institute's research director Sam Bowman said: "It is crazy for the government to stoke demand even more without addressing supply and claim that this will help the housing market.
"Making taxpayer-subsidised handouts to homebuyers will only drive further house prices up, risking a bubble, improving access for a select few but making housing even more unaffordable for most people.