Rich 'exploit housing fund' meant to help first-time buyers enter the market
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The rich are using a housing fund aimed at helping struggling first home buyers enter the market , it was claimed last night.
More than 5,000 people on six-figure incomes have reportedly used the government's Help to Buy scheme.
Four in ten recipients of the taxpayer help were on salaries of more than £50,000 a year .
One in ten was earning more than £80,000, it was reported.
While the scheme was used by 135,000 people in the past four years, Theresa May this week pledged another £10 billion to help that same amount again get into the market.
(Image: PA)
The fund allows buyers to purchase new-build properties worth up to £600,000 using deposits of only 5 per cent.
The government offers loans interest-free of up to another 20 per cent for five years - a figure that rises to 40 per cent in London.
Almost 60 per cent of people using the fund were able to afford a home without it according to a government survey, the Daily Mail reports.
(Image: PA)
Adam Smith Institute executive director Sam Bowman said: "This scheme is being used by investment bankers and doctors.
"They are certainly not the sort of people who the taxpayer should be subsidising.
"It is astonishing that households earning over £100,000 a year are using it."