Mortgage Calculator for Help to Buy Borrowing
Free Help to Buy mortgage calculator to support UK applicants understand their borrowing limits, available financing, and anticipated monthly mortgage repayments.
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Mortgage Calculator for Help to Buy Borrowing
Help to Buy equity loans are available only for new-builds, and there are lots of calculators online. The problem is that nearly all calculators will return a different result because they can only be based on averages and estimates.
While a calculator is useful to get a rough idea about what you might be able to borrow, or what your monthly repayments might be, they are never entirely accurate.
Calculators can also cause confusion since they cannot consider whether you meet the lender's eligibility criteria. That can cause issues if you proceed with an application, only to find you do not meet them - and rack up credit checks on your credit file that diminish your chances of approval elsewhere.
Here we'll run through how calculators work, and what information they use. For more detailed quotes and help to find a Help to Buy lender, give the Revolution Brokers team a call on 0330 304 3040, or email us at [email protected].
Which Help to Buy Mortgage Calculators are Best?
You can find several mortgage calculators on the Revolution Brokers calculator pages - but again, these are only useful for a rough indication.
Enter the details about how much you need to borrow, how much deposit you have, and how much you earn, and you'll get an idea about the maximum mortgage you might be able to secure.
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How Can I Calculate my Maximum Help to Buy Mortgage Value?
Generally, UK lenders offer mortgages up to 4.5 times your annual salary.
The below table gives you an idea about how much mortgage you can borrow, assuming you have the minimum 5% deposit required. For this illustration, we have used a 3% interest rate.
Value of the property |
5% deposit |
20% Help to Buy loan |
Mortgage required |
£100,000 |
£5,000 |
£20,000 |
£75,000 |
£150,000 |
£7,500 |
£30,000 |
£112,500 |
£200,000 |
£10,000 |
£40,000 |
£150,000 |
£250,000 |
£12,500 |
£50,000 |
£187,500 |
How Does the Interest Calculation Work on a Help to Buy Loan?
Your Help to Buy equity loan is interest-free for the first five years. After that, interest is charged at 1.75%.
The interest rate increases each year, based on the Retail Price Index plus 1%.
As an example, the below table shows the interest payable on the loan each year, on a property purchase of £200,000 with a 20% equity loan of £40,000, based on an RPI of 5%:
Year |
Interest rate RPI + 1% |
Annual interest cost |
Years 0-5 |
0% |
£0 |
Year 6 |
1.75% |
£700 |
Year 7 |
1.86% |
£744 |
Year 8 |
1.97% |
£788 |
Year 9 |
2.08% |
£832 |
Year 10 |
2.21% |
£840 |
Remember that this is the interest payable on only the equity loan - the capital remains outstanding, and this does not include your mortgage repayments.
As an example, if you take out a £200,000 mortgage, in year seven your equity loan will cost £744 per year in interest, in addition to your monthly mortgage costs of £711.
How Do the Calculations for Help to Buy Loan Repayments Work?
You can repay the Help to Buy loan at any time, or need to repay the full balance if you sell the home.
Part payments mean that you gradually buy back the equity shares until you own all of the property. This reduces your interest charges and is called staircasing.
If you are interested in paying back the equity loan in this way:
- You need to keep up with the mortgage repayments.
- Each payment towards the capital of the equity loan must be at least 10% of the property value.
- Some lenders have other criteria around staircasing payments.
- When you want to make a repayment, you will need to cover the valuation costs of an independent survey.
As your property value grows, so too does the value of the equity share owned by the government.
If you need support with budgeting for buying back equity shares, or to understand the long-term costs against a typical mortgage product, give us a call on 0330 304 3040.
How Do Lenders Calculate UK Help to Buy Mortgages?
The rates are different in different regions of the UK, and work like this:
Region |
Deposit required |
Maximum equity loan |
Mortgage required |
Scotland |
5% |
Up to 15% |
Deposit + mortgage must make up 85% of the property value. |
Wales |
5% |
20% |
75% |
Midlands |
5% |
20% |
75% |
South England |
5% |
20% |
75% |
South East England |
5% |
20% |
75% |
London |
5% |
40% |
55% |
North England |
5% |
20% |
75% |
North West England |
5% |
20% |
75% |
Yorkshire |
5% |
20% |
75% |
How Does my Credit Rating Impact my Help to Buy Application?
It can be harder to find a Help to Buy mortgage with bad credit, and the interest rates quoted may be higher.
Some lenders do not accept any applicants with bad credit, but specialist lenders can usually help.
If you are in this situation, give us a call, and we'll advise on the best bad credit lenders who can offer the Help to Buy mortgage you would like.
Professional Help to Buy Mortgage Advice
The key is always to work with an experienced broker who understands your circumstances. We can signpost your application to a lender we know is likely to accept your application, and be willing to offer competitive lending terms.
As a whole-of-market broker, mortgage advisors can recommend any product from across the market that we think is ideal for you, and provide accurate calculations to help you understand exactly what you can borrow, and what it is going to cost.
Give us a call on 0330 304 3040, or email the team at [email protected] for more information.
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FCA disclaimer
The content included in our articles, blogs, web pages and news publications is based on information accurate at the time of writing. Note that policies and criteria can change regularly throughout the UK mortgage lending market, and it remains essential to contact the consultation team to receive up to date guidance. The information included on the Revolution Brokers site is not bespoke to any circumstances or individual application scenarios and therefore is not intended to be used as financial advice. The content we share is designed to be informative and helpful but cannot be relied upon to provide individual advice relevant to your mortgage requirements. All Revolution team members are fully qualified, trained and experienced to provide mortgage advice of an independent nature.
We collaborate with lenders and providers who are regulated, authorised and registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Should you require specific mortgage borrowing types, some products such as buy to let mortgages may not be FCA regulated. The Revolution team can provide further information about regulated and unregulated lending as required. Please remember that a mortgage is a debt which is secured against your home or property. Your home can be at risk of repossession if you do not keep up with the repayments or encounter any other difficulties in managing your mortgage borrowing responsibly. This also applies to any remortgage or home loan secured against your property, including equity release products.