Help to Buy Mortgage Calculator

If you’re hoping to make use of the next phase of the Help to Buy mortgage scheme, it’s worth checking an online calculator to see how much you can borrow and find out what the equity loan will mean for your repayments.

We’ll give you access to our latest Help to Buy calculator to better understand your potential interest and repayments with an equity loan. You’ll also learn about the regional differences across the UK and where you can find expert support to secure a great deal.

Keep reading for all the details surrounding Help to Buy calculators or click on a link to jump straight to a section…

How much can you borrow on a Help to Buy mortgage?

This will partly be determined by your personal circumstances, including things like your income and the size of your deposit. With most lenders, you can borrow up to 4.5x your salary. A few will go higher and some will go lower, but it depends on your situation.

Before you use our Help to Buy calculator below, this handy table will show you some examples of how much you’d need to borrow if you put down a 5% deposit, used a 20% equity loan, and required a mortgage worth 75% of a property’s value.

There are regional differences and caps that apply with the Help to Buy scheme. So, the property value has to be below certain levels, depending on where you’re located. How much you’d need to borrow will also depend on a variety of personal factors which is why it’s worth discussing your plans in detail with a skilled mortgage advisor.

How our Help to Buy affordability calculator works

The basic way to calculate a Help to Buy mortgage will depend on where you’re based, the value of the property, and your deposit. If you enter a larger deposit into a Help to Buy mortgage calculator, this will impact the potential size of your equity loan and the remaining figure you’d need to borrow with a mortgage.

Our Help to Buy Calculator will show you how this works in practise. Simply input the value of the property you’re looking to buy, your deposit (minimum 5%) and the amount of equity loan you’re applying for as a percentage of the value of the property (remember, the maximum you can apply for is 40% within London and 20% for anywhere else).

Once you’ve done that, the calculator will show you how much mortgage you need. Then input your annual income to see how this fits with how much a lender may be prepared to let you borrow.

Keep in mind that income multiples are often just one tool that lenders use when calculating mortgage affordability. Each lender will have its own way of assessing your finances. This could involve a deep dive into your spending and outgoings, and looking into any long-term debts or financial commitments.

How to calculate your Help to Buy mortgage repayments

If you want to calculate your Help to Buy repayments, we have a useful calculator below that will help you do this quickly. However, before you do this it’s important to note that the figures involved will be slightly more complex because it will need to take into account the interest rate on the equity loan portion too. It’s also worth keeping in mind that after 5 years, you’ll have to account for the 1.75% interest on the remaining sum owed for the equity loan.

This interest rate is then linked to the RPI (Retail Price Index) plus 1%. So, your rate can increase or decrease in line with inflation figures.

Equity loan interest examples

Take a look below to see what your accrued yearly interest will look like for a property valued at £250,000 with a £50,000 equity loan. It’s particularly worth taking note of the RPI repayment calculator results after 5 years for your Help to Buy loan.

RPI of 6% (for example purposes only)

The exact amounts will depend on the size of your equity loan and the value of the home you’re buying using the Help to Buy scheme. Also, it’s important to remember that the amount you owe is tied to the home’s value, not just the figure you initially borrowed.

If you want to get a complete walkthrough of the process and the accurate figures that will apply to your circumstances, it’s best to discuss plans with an expert mortgage broker. If you’d like to speak with one, just make an enquiry. We’ll introduce you to a Help to Buy specialist for free.

Repayments calculator

To establish how much your Help to Buy borrowing will cost, take a look at our Help to Buy repayment calculator here for an estimated measure of your mortgage payments.

Once open, you can add and edit the loan amount, rate, and term, and the calculator will display the monthly payments for both repayment and interest-only Help to Buy mortgages. Keep in mind that this is just to give you an idea about the calculations and it’s not an exact way to calculate your Help to Buy repayments

Lump sum versus staircasing

When using the Help to Buy scheme, there are a couple of different options when it comes to repayments for the equity loan.

The two main ways are:

• Paying it off as a lump sum when selling your property.
• Making partial repayments over time, known as ‘staircasing’.

Whichever way you decide to pay back the equity loan, it has to be paid within 25 years in England and Wales. Scotland has no time limit for repayment.

Lump sum equity loan repayment

Paying the loan back as a lump sum is pretty straightforward and self-explanatory. The main thing to be aware of is that you’d keep paying interest on the equity loan as part of your monthly mortgage payment for as long as the loan remains outstanding.

Staircasing repayments

Staircasing on the other hand allows you to reduce the amount of equity you owe in chunks. Doing this before the end of the interest-free period can put you in a stronger position if you’re able to afford it.

But, it comes with some important points to consider:

• You can make repayments at any time.
• The amount you pay must be at least 10% of the property’s value.
• Each time you want to make a repayment, you’ll need to arrange for an independent valuation of the home and usually pay these costs yourself.
• Your lender may impose additional rules or criteria for staircase payment

Help to Buy remortgage calculator

There’s not really any major difference between a Help to Buy remortgage and a regular remortgage. So, you can treat the standard calculator as a Help to Buy remortgage calculator. We can however calculate how much equity you can release when remortgaging and paying off your equity loan.

Are Help to Buy mortgages calculated differently around the UK?

Yes, and this is where Help to Buy calculators can get a little bit confusing. It’s worth understanding how your location impacts the calculations.

Help to Buy calculator Scotland

You don’t need a specific Help to Buy calculator for Scotland. But you do need to remember that the Scotland HTB property rules are different. There’s a property price cap of £200,000 and you can only take out a maximum equity loan of 15%. So, if you’re based in Scotland, make sure you’re aware of this when using a mortgage calculator.

Wales Help to Buy calculator

Similarly, Help to Buy Wales has its own rule modifications. The property price cap is £250,000 and you can borrow up to 20% with a Help to Buy equity loan. So, make sure you factor these limits in when you’re using a calculator to work out costs and how much you’d pay back with the Help to Buy scheme.

England and London Help to Buy equity loan calculator

The HTB rules across England can be particularly confusing to wrap your head around at times. For most of England, there’s a 20% equity loan cap, except in London, where it’s 40%. Also, the property price cap can vary between regions.

So, it’s always worth double-checking the exact rules for your location with a knowledgeable broker. Especially if you want precise figures rather than using a more general Help to Buy scheme calculator.