Others have admitted to hearing the name but not knowing what it was, according the survey carried out by removals company Bishop’s Move.
Nationally some 22% don’t know about the scheme but there are regional variations. For example, 25% of home owners and current buyers in the North East hadn’t heard of Help to Buy while only 7% in Yorkshire and 6% in the West Midlands had done so.
A further 28% in the South West and 26% in Yorkshire also admitted to hearing about the scheme but not realising what it was.
Overall just 3% said they were fully aware of Help to Buy’s benefits and have used or knew someone that has used the scheme whilst 52% said they were aware that it was helping first time buyers onto the property ladder.
‘Help to Buy has certainly been making the headlines for some time there are yet pockets of home owners and property buyers across the UK that remain completely unaware of the scheme,’ said Chris Marshall, sales and marketing director at Bishop’s Move.
‘In areas such as the North East, where the property market is somewhat stagnate, it is a worrying statistic that over a quarter of those surveyed haven’t even heard of Help to Buy,’ he pointed out.
‘In order to improve local economies through the housing market, more needs to be done from a regional perspective to ensure people are fully aware of the many benefits Help to Buy can bring,’ he added.
The research also found that over 15% of 18 to 24 year olds think the Help to Buy scheme is a recently launched face to face, personal shopping service by the major supermarkets for over 60s and 11% believe the Help to Buy scheme is a new web service to help online traders shop more securely on sites such as eBay.
In fact less than half of 18 to 24 year olds, 42%, agreed that Help to Buy is a government scheme to help first time buyers onto the property ladder and it isn’t until you reach over the age of 45 years that people fully understand what the scheme is. Some 85% of those aged 45 to 54 and 94% of those aged over 55 knew exactly what Help to Buy is.
'With Help to Buy targeted towards first time buyers, 18 to 24 year olds is a key demographic for the scheme. However, these stats will prove alarming for government officials who are relying on Help to Buy to ensure people fulfill their ambitions of owning a property,' said Marshall.
'It is a concern to see that is isn’t until you reach over the age of 45 where people know exactly what Help to Buy yet this demographic is very likely to be filled with property owners already. Clearly there needs to be some amendments in the way the government targets Help to Buy towards our younger generations to ensure they are fully aware of the options available to them,' he added.
