Brown to announce first time buyers help

Britain's first time buyers - many of whom are finding themselves priced out of the mortgage loans market - are to receive financial help from the government.

According to plans to be announced by Gordon Brown today, £3 million of funding is to be given over towards providing help towards homebuyers needing to purchase furniture for their home and pay solicitors' fees.

Around 2,000 of the £1,500 grants are to be awarded in this way, to buyers who take part in the new Open Market Homebuy Scheme (OMHB).

Open to key workers and selected first time buyers, OMHB works by providing a low-interest loan for a proportion of the purchased property's cost - saving the buyer money on repayments.

Loan products offered by the scheme include a 15 per cent loan and a 50 per cent loan.

Mr Brown will say: "By offering new grants and sharing a stake in their home, we are making the dream of a new home more affordable for thousands of low-income first-time buyers and key workers such as nurses and teachers."

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