The Help to Buy scheme in the UK has enabled 35,000 people to buy their own home and is playing a key role in boosting house building and the economy, new government data shows.

The latest figures show that since the launch of Help to Buy 14 months ago, 22,831 people have bought newly built homes through the Help to Buy equity loan scheme. There have also been 7,313 sales through the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee and 5,173 sales through the Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme. This takes total sales through Help to Buy to over 35,000.

Housing minister Kris Hopkins said that since the launch of the scheme, house building is up a third compared to last year and at its highest level since 2007, while 216,000 planning permissions were granted in the last 12 months.

Nationally, 86% of Help to Buy equity loan sales were to first time buyers, while the average purchase price under the scheme was £206,084. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of Help to Buy equity loan sales, some 94%, were outside London.

Overall, the highest numbers of Help to Buy sales are in Leeds with 580 followed by Wiltshire with 506, Central Bedfordshire at 458, Milton Keynes 417 and Peterborough 379.