The department for Communities and Local Government has published its latest Help to Buy (equity loan) and Help to Buy:NewBuy statistics.

Since the start of the Help to Buy Scheme in April 2013, up until 30 September 2015, 62,259 properties have been bought with the support of the equity loan scheme.

First-time buyers represented 81% of total equity loan sales with 50,969 purchases.

The average (mean) purchase price was £217,999 under the scheme, the mean equity loan was £43,370.

The highest levels of completed sales using the scheme, were found in Wiltshire (1084), Leeds (999), Central Bedfordshire (979), Peterborough (819), County Durham (803) and Bedford (772).

Meanwhile, the NewBuy Scheme has aided 5,703 home purchases since its launch in March 2012.

London Help to Buy will be launched in early 2016, offering equity loans at up to 40% of the value of the purchase price – with a 5% deposit required.

Andrew Bridges, managing director of Stirling Ackroyd, said: “Help to Buy is a radical scheme for drastic times – but it will never be enough to shift the dial fundamentally. Because it is not Help to Build.

“First time buyers are facing a sheer cliff of house prices. Particularly in our capital city. Just a one bedroom flat already costs more than the £450,000 upper limit for the Help to Buy ISA in two thirds of London postcodes – and will in time push past the £600,000 limit for the Help to Buy scheme itself.

“So special schemes like this are a leg-up onto the housing ladder – for today’s potential buyers, not necessarily tomorrow’s. Helping current buyers speed up their ambitions is honourable – but is likely to only boost prices further. We’re seeing prices accelerate in the capital again now, even into the winter months. In light of this, there is a creeping danger that the government focuses only on shorter-term solutions, and not the long-term challenges too.

“In the long run, there’s only one thing London’s first-time buyers need from the government – more homes to live in, whether as owner or tenant. Planning officials need steadily increasing targets for new homes, not a vaguer preference for rejections.”