A poll conducted by Development Finance Today found that at the time of writing 67% of respondents voted that the Help to Buy Isa was not worth it, while 33% said they still thought it was a useful scheme.

The Help to Buy Isa has been offered by a number of banks and building societies since its launch.

The intention of the scheme is that if you save using the Isa, the government will boost savings by 25%, ie for every £200 saved, there is a government bonus of £50 (up to a maximum amount of £3,000).

Last month, MP David Lammy slammed the scheme for allegedly “misleading” savers.

In August, Development Finance Today was told that using the Help to Buy scheme to purchase new-build homes could hinder developers’ profits, while it was also found that the scheme had diluted demand for developer shared equity schemes.  

Carl Bowcher, director of property development at Oblix Capital, felt that it was hard not to agree with the outcome of the poll.

“If you’re using the Help to Buy deposit scheme, even having an additional £3,000 could still leave you a long way off from having a deposit for a home.

“For example, in London – where the average house price is over £500,000, and the average deposit is over £70,000 – a few thousand pounds won’t get you very far.

“Even if you can afford a monthly mortgage, and have a steady job, saving up thousands for a deposit can be struggle.”

Meanwhile, Sam Howard, chief operating officer at Regentsmead, also agreed adding: “…The problem with many of these laudable government schemes to stimulate the housing market and help first-time buyers is that the devil is in the detail.

“The concept of the government’s free 25% top-up and good rates of return [are] appealing, but the reality is that the 25% top-up will not be able to be used for the deposit, which is what first-time buyers are struggling with, and can only be used when [the] sale completes.”

Speaking about the future of the scheme, Sam alleged: “The misleading nature of the Help to Buy Isa does make me wonder if it does have a future.

“It is frustrating because Regentsmead is enabling the developers to build the homes that first-time buyers need, but the government needs to be helping these buyers to be able to purchase them.”

Meanwhile, Carl said it would be interesting to see the volume of people that had utilised the Isa.

“…As the poll would suggest, the majority view this as a wasted initiative, and that there would be better ways to utilise their funds.

“The underlying problem is that we’ve been underbuilding for decades.

“In order to mitigate this problem, we need more homes, which ultimately should make homes more affordable.”