NOT ONE house has been sold in Oxford under the Government’s Help to Buy scheme in the past 18 months.

The figures demonstrate the huge pressure on housing in the city, with no affordable homes built last year.

It comes after the Oxford Mail revealed that Oxford is the least affordable city in the country.

Tim Willocks, head of home ownership for Radian, which administers Help to Buy for the Government in Oxfordshire, said: “If you’ve got low numbers, it’s most likely to be a lack of house building.”

But across the county, the equity s continued from page 1 loan scheme, available for houses below £600,000, stimulated 493 sales.

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With recent figures showing 46,000 people a day commuting into the city, these latest statistics will likely add to strain on the road network, after county council leader Ian Hudspeth admitted we were at capacity.

Andrew Smith, the Labour MP for Oxford East, said: “It’s disappointing to see that no-one wanting to live in Oxford has been able to benefit from this Government scheme. It’s yet another reminder of the shortage of land for building homes in Oxford, and the very high prices in the city.”

Bob Price, the leader of Oxford City Council, said the absence of any take-up of Help to Buy in Oxford illustrated a “significant problem”.

“The amount of house-building has been very low for the past couple of years, because of the recession, and there’s very little land in the city.”

Since land was scarce, prices for new houses tended to be high, he added.

The director of communications at housing charity Shelter, Roger Harding, said: “Our desperate shortage of affordable homes means that people across Oxford are watching their dreams of a stable future slip out of their reach.

“We hear from people every day who, no matter how hard they work or save, are finding themselves stuck in a ‘rent trap’ with little hope of ever saving for a home.

“It’s time for politicians to roll up their sleeves and commit to building the genuinely affordable homes we urgently need, from new social housing to a new generation of part buy, part rent schemes.”

Help to Buy, introduced last year, is designed to assist first-time buyers by giving a loan on new dwellings of up to 20 per cent of the value of properties under £600,000. Individuals must have a minimum five per cent deposit, and mortgage providers must contribute at least 75 per cent.

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It was initially for new-builds but the project was extended earlier this year.

Radian’s Mr Willocks said developers regarded Help to Buy “as a really good stimulus for the housing industry to get more homes built”.

He said: “Over the course of the next year I’d expect the numbers to increase, as developers get more confidence.”

South Oxfordshire was the most active district council area, with 207 Help to Buy sales, while Cherwell saw 150 homes built, Vale 116 and West Oxfordshire 20.

Elain Stratford, the sales and marketing manager in the Thames Valley for developer Charles Church, said Help to Buy had been “extremely useful” in enabling younger people to get out of the rental market and on to the property ladder, especially with houses priced in the £200,000s and £300,000s.

About half of the 25 private sales to date at Charles Church’s Tilbury Fields development just outside the Oxford’s boundary, off Fogwell Road, Botley, have been made under the scheme, she added.

'Market just so frustrating'

Katie Walton, a 26-year-old fundraising manager for Oxford’s Helen & Douglas House hospice, has been looking to buy a property with her partner Craig Harrison.

With a joint budget of £250,000, Ms Walton was hoping to find a modest two-bed property within months.

She said: “Obviously we’re very frustrated by the housing market in Oxford.

“We’ve put offers on houses at the top of our price range, but it ends up being a bidding war. Some houses go way over asking price.

“We had an offer accepted on a property in February, but that has just fallen through. It has now gone on the market for £20,000 more than we offered.

“We’ve been looking since October last year. Because it has taken so long to find a house we had to reapply for our mortgage valuation, which cost around £200. We did look at more affordable places in Abingdon, but I couldn’t face losing two hours of my day to commuting.”

Ms Walton and Mr Harrison have just had an offer accepted on a house in Greater Leys.

She said: “We’ll hopefully be moved in by Christmas. But it’s still a lot of money to pay – we haven’t bought a mansion.”

Ms Walton and Mr Harrison did not choose to take advantage of the Help to Buy scheme. She said: “We knew what our budget was and didn’t want to go over that, as then we’d have to pay more stamp duty. If prices continued to rise, we would have to consider further loans, Help to Buy, or borrowing money from our parents. But we didn’t want to do that.”

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