Burnham Unveils 'Your First Home' Equity Loan Scheme for Buyers

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a new equity loan scheme on September 26 designed to let first-time buyers in England purchase a new-build home with a deposit of just 2.5%, according to the BBC.

The scheme, called "Your First Home," would provide buyers with a loan worth 20% of a new-build property's value, on top of their deposit and a mortgage covering the remainder. The equity loan would be interest-free for an initial period, Labour said, though the length of that period has not been specified.

What is the Your First Home scheme?

Under the plan as announced, a first-time buyer would put down a 2.5% deposit, receive a government equity loan covering 20% of the property's value, and finance the rest through a mortgage. The property must be a new build. Burnham said the scheme is aimed at people who lack support from what he called the "bank of mum and dad," telling reporters: "Too many young people are struggling with the cost of housing, with many giving up hope of ever having a home to call their own. So we will step in to help more first-time buyers onto the housing ladder."

Burnham added that he believes the scheme will give builders the "confidence to deliver the high-quality new homes the country needs," according to the BBC.

Ministers have not yet confirmed whether there will be an age restriction on eligibility or a cap on the value of properties that qualify, the BBC reported.

How would the scheme be funded?

Funding is expected to come from reprioritising existing government budgets, according to the BBC, rather than new money set aside specifically for the program. Housing developers will contribute toward the scheme's running costs, though the source material does not specify the size of that contribution or how it will be structured.

Further financial details, including the total budget allocated to the scheme, are expected in next month's Budget. Pre-registration for prospective buyers will open before the end of the year, the BBC reported, though a specific date has not been announced.

How does this compare with Help to Buy?

The policy resembles the coalition government's Help to Buy scheme, introduced in 2013 by then-Chancellor George Osborne, according to the BBC. That scheme let all purchasers — not only first-time buyers — put down a 5% deposit on a newly built home, with up to 20% of the cost funded by a shared equity loan that was interest-free for the first five years. Help to Buy itself expanded an earlier program called FirstBuy, which had been aimed solely at first-time buyers.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said Your First Home would "build on the lessons learned from previous schemes, while retaining the benefits," adding: "We're delivering a new generation of equity loans in a Labour way, targeting support to those first-time buyers who need support the most."

The source material does not detail what specific lessons from Help to Buy are being applied, or how the lower 2.5% deposit requirement — compared with Help to Buy's 5% — changes risk exposure for buyers or the government.

Why is the timing significant?

Burnham announced the scheme on the eve of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, his first as prime minister, according to the BBC. The announcement arrives alongside separate scrutiny of the government's broader housebuilding record: Rayner told the BBC earlier this month there was only a "slim chance" the government would meet its target of building 1.5 million homes in England by the next election, though she said she was "not giving it up."

BBC Verify analysis cited in the reporting showed a decline in the number of new houses built during Labour's first year in power, continuing a fall that began under the previous Conservative government. Data up to June this year suggested the government was behind the rate of construction needed to meet its 1.5 million target, a pace that housebuilders have previously said was too optimistic, according to the BBC.

What happens next?

The government has committed to releasing further scheme details in next month's Budget, where funding mechanics and possible eligibility caps are expected to be clarified. Pre-registration is set to open before the end of 2026. Until the Budget documents are published, questions about age limits, property price ceilings, and the precise length of the interest-free period on the equity loan remain unanswered, according to the reporting.

Readers can track related coverage of housing and construction policy through outlets such as the BBC, which first reported the announcement from Liverpool.

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