Help To Buy not driving property bubble, Treasury says

“This is a reflection of the fact that most mortgage completions through the scheme have been on properties outside London and the South East, in regions where prices are lower."

A source added: “It becomes very very difficult to claim that Help To Buy is pushing up house prices in London.”

The North West and South East saw the most completions (14 per cent each), and Scotland made up 13 per cent.

Elsewhere, Yorkshire and Humber, the East and the East Midlands each had 9 per cent of the completions, while the South West and West Midlands had 8 per cent.

The last figures showed there were around 2,570 mortgage signed off through the scheme at the end of January, almost a third of the amount completed by March as the programme gathered pace.

There had speculation that the Bank of England could take further steps to calm the housing market amid concerns about the impact that another potential housing bubble could have on the economic recovery.

David Cameron has previously said he would consider making changes to Help to Buy, if the Bank thinks these are necessary.

Critics of Help to Buy have blamed the scheme for adding to the upward pressure on house prices by increasing demand for homes without a corresponding increase in supply.

But the Government said recent estimates suggest that Help to Buy only accounts for less than 3% of house sales and the scheme is "continuing to successfully target" the people who really need a helping hand to get on the housing ladder.

The new figures show that 74% of homes bought through Help to Buy are new-build properties.

The Government insisted the scheme is supporting "responsible lending", with the average house price being bought under the mortgage guarantee scheme at £151,597 and the typical price under the equity loan scheme at £204,805.

Speaking at a construction site in Ilkeston in Derbyshire, where Taylor Wimpey is building 280 new homes, the Prime Minister said: "Help to Buy has helped thousands of hardworking people to buy a new home and crucially it is helping to increase the number of new homes being built around the country.

"It is an important part of our long term plan to back those who want to get on and to secure a better future for Britain."

A total of 27,861 households have been helped by the Help to Buy mortgage support scheme so far, according to the figures, which showed 85% of house sales have gone to first-time buyers.

The figures include both the Help to Buy equity loan scheme which was launched in England last spring and the UK-wide Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, which was fired into action last autumn.

Both schemes allow people to move onto or up the property ladder with a deposit of just 5% but unlike the mortgage guarantee initiative, the equity loan scheme is aimed at new-build homes only.

more