Buying your first home in 2026 looks different to even a couple of years ago. Help to Buy: Equity Loan is gone, deposits are still the biggest hurdle for most buyers, and a new mix of government, lender and developer schemes has stepped in to fill the gap. This guide walks through every realistic option, who each is for, and how they compare.
What replaced Help to Buy?
The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme in England closed to new applicants on 31 October 2022 and completed its final purchases by March 2023. The Welsh equivalent has also ended for new applicants. In its place, the government and industry have shifted toward three different levers:
- • Discounted purchase — buy a home for less than market value (First Homes).
- • Part-buy, part-rent — buy a share of a home (Shared Ownership).
- • Smaller deposits — buy outright with just 5% (Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, Deposit Unlock, lender 95% and 100% products).
For many buyers the combined effect is actually better than Help to Buy used to be — particularly because you're not taking on a separate equity loan that grows with property value.
The 2026 first-time buyer schemes at a glance
Each scheme below is genuinely available somewhere in the UK in 2026. Eligibility and lender appetite vary, so think of this as a menu to discuss with an adviser, not a guarantee any one option will work for you.
First Homes
New-build homes sold at a 30–50% discount to local first-time buyers and key workers in England.
- • Minimum 30% discount versus open-market value, locked in for future resales
- • Household income cap of £80,000 (£90,000 in London)
- • Must be your only home and your main residence
- • Mortgage required for at least 50% of the discounted purchase price
Shared Ownership
Buy a share of a home — usually 10% to 75% — and pay rent on the rest, then staircase up over time.
- • Smaller deposit because it's calculated on your share, not the full value
- • Available on new-build and resale homes through housing associations
- • Buy more shares when you can afford to (staircasing), up to 100%
- • Devolved equivalents run in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Mortgage Guarantee Scheme
Government backing that helps lenders offer 95% mortgages to buyers with just a 5% deposit.
- • Properties up to £600,000
- • Available on new-build and existing homes
- • Standard repayment mortgage, fixed or variable
- • Lender chooses whether to use the guarantee — choice of products is wider than you'd expect
Lifetime ISA
Save up to £4,000 a year toward your first home and receive a 25% government bonus on top.
- • Up to £1,000 free from the government each tax year
- • Use toward a first home worth up to £450,000
- • Open one between ages 18 and 39; contribute up to age 50
- • Pairs well with any of the schemes above for boosting your deposit
Deposit Unlock
A lender-and-developer-backed scheme letting first-time buyers and home movers buy a new build with a 5% deposit.
- • Available on selected new builds up to £833,250
- • Standard repayment mortgage at competitive rates
- • Run by participating UK lenders, not the government
- • Useful where the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme isn't offered by your chosen lender
Family-assisted & 100% mortgages
Niche options where parents or family help — through savings, equity or a guarantee — instead of gifting a deposit.
- • Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor (JBSP) — family income added without joint ownership
- • Family offset and family deposit mortgages — savings held as security
- • Track Record style 100% mortgages — proven rent history instead of a deposit
- • Criteria vary widely; advice matters more than ever here
First Homes in depth
First Homes is an English government scheme offering newly built homes at a minimum 30% discount versus open-market value. Some councils push the discount to 40% or 50%. Crucially, the discount stays with the property — when you sell, the next buyer also gets it, keeping the home affordable in perpetuity for local first-time buyers.
You must be a first-time buyer aged 18 or over, with a household income under £80,000 (£90,000 in London), and need a mortgage covering at least half the discounted price. Local councils can prioritise key workers — nurses, teachers, police — or people with strong local connections. Stock is limited and usually goes quickly when released.
Shared Ownership in depth
Shared Ownership lets you buy a share of a property — anywhere from 10% to 75% — and pay subsidised rent on the rest, usually to a housing association. Because your deposit and mortgage are based on the share you buy, the up-front cost is far lower than buying outright.
Over time you can buy more shares (staircasing) until you own 100% in most cases. The 2021 model — now the standard on new schemes — reduced the minimum starting share to 10%, gave a 10-year period of landlord-funded repairs on new builds, and made staircasing in 1% chunks possible. Scotland (LIFT and the New Supply Shared Equity scheme), Wales (Homebuy) and Northern Ireland (Co-Ownership) run their own equivalents.
The trade-off: you're a leaseholder, you'll pay rent and service charges alongside the mortgage, and reselling can sometimes take longer than an open-market sale. It still tends to be the most accessible route into home ownership in high-cost areas.
The Mortgage Guarantee Scheme and 95% mortgages
The Mortgage Guarantee Scheme was extended and continues to support the 95% loan-to-value market in 2026. The government covers part of the lender's risk on high-LTV loans, which keeps 5% deposit products on the shelf even when the wider market tightens.
Outside the scheme, most major UK lenders now have their own 95% range, and a handful go further — Skipton's Track Record mortgage (and similar lender-specific products) offer 100% lending to renters with a strong payment history, and family-assisted mortgages let parents help without simply gifting cash. Each comes with strict criteria, and a broker can quickly tell you which you'd realistically be accepted on.
How to choose — and what we'd ask first
The right scheme depends on three things: how much deposit you actually have, the kind of property you want, and how secure your income is over the next five years. There's no universally best option — the cheapest monthly payment isn't always the best long-term outcome, and the lowest deposit isn't always the cheapest scheme.
When we sit down with first-time buyers we usually run two or three options side by side: the true monthly cost (mortgage plus rent plus service charges), the deposit required, the costs to exit or staircase, and the lender appetite for your circumstances. From there the right scheme is normally obvious.