FTB grant scheme is launched

Posted: 09 Apr 2008 11:19:03 GMT

Key workers and first-time buyers (FTBs) are to have grants made available to them in order to help them buy a home.

Key workers and first-time buyers (FTBs) are to have grants made available to them in order to help them buy a home.

The government has announced that up to £1,500 per person is up for grabs.

In addition, Gordon Brown said that 30,000 new homes would be built, many of them affordable, so that future supply is secured.

Announcing the new plans, Mr Brown said: "We want to do more for people who may need an extra hand to buy their first home.

"By offering new grants and sharing a stake in their home, we are making the dream of a new home more affordable for thousands of low-income first-time buyers and key workers such as nurses and teachers," he added.

Although the scheme has been welcomed by many it has also received some criticism.

Grant Shapps, Conservative shadow housing minister, said that the grant is not nearly enough.

"The incredible thing is that stamp duty for first-time buyers is already nearly £1,700 so the money pledged won't even cover that cost," he commented.

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