"Your First Home": what we actually know about the new first-time buyer scheme

On 26 September, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a new scheme for England called "Your first home" — a help-to-buy-style equity loan for first-time buyers who don't have access to the "bank of mum and dad." Full details are due at the Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026, so here's what's confirmed, what's still pending, and what it could mean if you're saving for a first home.

What's been announced

• A 20% equity loan toward a new-build home, with an initial interest-free period.
• A minimum deposit of just 2.5% — below the 5-10% typically needed today.
• Household income caps and a deposit cap, intended to exclude the highest earners and those with large savings pots.
• Price caps, so the scheme applies to modest homes rather than the full market.
• It only applies to new-build homes, the same as the original Help to Buy — it won't help if you're buying an existing property, which is most of the market.
• Developers pay a fee tied to property values to help fund the scheme, alongside reprioritised government budgets.
• Registration is expected to open by the end of 2026.

Alongside it, the government also announced changes to Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs): councils will be able to step in on long-term empty homes after 6 months instead of 2 years, aiming to bring more of England's 300,000+ long-term-empty homes back into use.

What's still unconfirmed

The headline figures — 20% equity, 2.5% deposit — have been reported consistently, but the detail that determines whether this helps you (the exact income cap, the exact price cap, how the developer fee is structured) is reserved for the Budget on 28 October.

Why this looks different from the last Help to Buy

The original Help to Buy scheme (2013-2023) supported around 387,000 buyers but was criticised for a specific reason relevant to anyone comparing the two: a chunk of its users could likely have bought a home anyway, and the extra demand it added arguably helped push prices up. This version is designed around that criticism — income and deposit caps, and price caps, to keep it targeted at buyers who are stretched, not just anyone shopping for a new-build.

Whether that targeting works will depend on where those caps land on 28 October. A cap set too generously repeats old patterns; a cap set too tightly leaves it reaching fewer people.

What is worth considering

Even a well-targeted equity loan doesn't change the two things that matter most in Homabu's own numbers: what a lender will actually let you borrow against a specific property, and what a property costs to run once you're in it (service charges, ground rent, lease length restrictions). An equity loan can shrink the deposit you need — it doesn't make a flat with a 15-year lease or a £300/month service charge any more affordable day-to-day. Worth running the full numbers on a specific property, not just the headline scheme terms, once eligibility is confirmed.