Jason Honeyman, who has led Bellway since 2017, welcomed the programme, which was announced by Andy Burnham a fortnight ago and sent housebuilders' shares up by more than 10%. Full details, including the launch date, are expected to be set out by John Healey in his first budget as chancellor on 28 October.
Your First Home applies only to England and is aimed at prospective first-time buyers of new-build flats or houses. Buyers will be offered a government-backed equity loan worth 20% of the purchase price, with a minimum deposit of just 2.5%. The scheme is more targeted than previous help-to-buy initiatives, featuring household income caps to exclude those with large salaries and price caps to restrict purchases to modest homes.
"Based upon our past experience with help to buy, the new scheme has the potential to boost volumes by around 10%, and with a market recovery, provide a path back to at least 10,000 homes a year and a return on equity of 15%," Honeyman said.
He cautioned that the scheme could weigh on the market in the near term, as some buyers wait for the initiative to launch. Bellway is targeting between 9,000 and 9,400 homes in the current year, down from 9,695 last year, reflecting a lower order book and "ongoing pressures on customer demand" alongside construction costs rising at between 3% and 4%.
Its forward order book stands at 4,981 homes worth £1.4bn, compared with 5,285 homes valued at £1.5bn a year earlier. Bellway expects the average selling price to be flat over the coming year at about £325,000. The chief executive's comments came after the company beat analysts' expectations.