Budget: Help to Buy ISAs to be available from December
The new Help to Buy ISAs will be available to start saving into from 1 December this year, the Government has this afternoon announced.
The new type of ISA was first revealed in the March Budget this year.
People will be able to open an ISA, save up to £200 a month towards their first home, and the government will boost it by 25%.
This would be equivalent to a £50 bonus for every £200 people save, up to £3,000, officials said.
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The Treasury said today: “To help as many people as possible realise their aspirations of home ownership, the Help to Buy: ISA was announced at Budget 2015.
“This supports people saving up for their first home by providing them with a maximum government bonus of £3,000 on £12,000 of savings.
“The government is today announcing that Help to Buy ISAs will be available for first time buyers to start saving into from 1 December 2015.
“First time buyers will be able to deposit £200 per month into their Help to Buy: ISA at participating banks and building societies.
“First time buyers will be able to open their Help to Buy: ISA accounts with an additional one off deposit of £1000 so that they can start saving now.”
There was further news on the announcement from March about extending ISA eligibility.
The government will introduce the Innovative Finance ISA, for loans arranged via a P2P platform, from 6 April 2016.
It has today published a public consultation on whether to extend the list of ISA eligible investments to include debt securities and equity offered via a crowd funding platform.
In March the Government said it would change the ISA rules in the autumn to allow individuals to withdraw and replace money from their cash ISA in-year without this replacement counting towards their annual ISA subscription limit. Today, it said that this policy will also cover cash held in stocks and shares ISAs. These changes will start from 6 April 2016.