There are concerns the government’s Help to Buy scheme is propping up the housing market in Waltham Forest and once the scheme ends, house prices will be affected.

According to developers Project Etopia, all new build homes purchased in the borough in 2018 were bought using Help to Buy, leaving the area “totally reliant” on the scheme.

With Help to Buy London, the government lends up to 40 per cent of the cost of a new-build home, so the purchaser has to raise just five per cent as a cash deposit, plus secure a mortgage to cover the remaining 55 per cent of the purchase price.

Help to Buy is due to end completely in 2023, but new restrictions are due to come in from 2021.

These include the scheme only being available to first-time buyers and regional price caps being imposed on houses that can be bought using Help To Buy funding.

The fear is once the scheme ends, house prices will be affected and pressure will be piled on to local authorities as fewer people can afford housing.

Developers say the capital’s housing market overall will be dealt a serious blow and are pushing for the relaxation of local planning laws and charges to enable them to build more homes faster.

But these homes will not necessarily be affordable.

Across London, according to Project Etopia, nearly half of all new-build properties purchased in 2018 were part funded by Help to Buy.

Joseph Daniels, CEO of developers Project Etopia, said: “It’s of huge concern that boroughs are totally reliant on Help To Buy.

“The obvious fear is that when the music stops in 2023, and potentially much earlier if price caps in 2021 are more severe, developers will discover overnight that free cash has been propping up prices significantly, and supercharging buyer confidence.

“More broadly, London appears to be less reliant overall on Help To Buy than England as a whole but that’s almost certainly down to the low affordability already affecting this market in many areas.

“The capital is in just as much, if not more, need of new homes than the rest of England and building must take centre stage in the future, not cash incentives.”

However, a spokesperson for the Government's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says Project Etopia's proportion figures are overly inflated as they do not include smaller developments (of six houses or less), houses that are never sold (i.e. built on someone's own land) or any affordable housing.

The spokesperson said: “We are committed to helping more people get on the housing ladder as we push to deliver 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s.

“Our Help to Buy equity loans have helped more people than ever before buy their own home, making home ownership a reality for a new generation.”

Once Help To Buy ends, councils will have to more carefully balance the demands of private developers, stretched resources and the genuine need for affordable housing in their areas.

This need for affordable housing is likely to go up after the scheme finishes, meaning local authorities will be put under even greater pressure to build more affordable homes on limited available land with their already stretched budgets.

Waltham Forest Council refused to comment on the local trend and impact of Help to Buy uptake in the area.