London Help-to-Buy: quick guide Published duration 25 November 2015

The Chancellor has announced a London help-to-buy scheme in his Autumn Spending Review.

This is what we know about the scheme so far:

It is the same as the government's existing help to buy equity loan scheme except "twice as generous" because you can borrow up to 40% of the home's value, instead of 20% under the current scheme

It applies to new homes worth up to £600,000 in any of the London boroughs and the City of London

There is no age limit imposed on applicants

You must be eligible for a mortgage to qualify for the scheme and your mortgage must be for at least 25% of the property's value

It is only open to UK residents living in the UK

It is administered and applied for via your mortgage lender

You must repay the loan after 25 years or when you sell your home

When the five years interest free period expires you will pay 1.75% annual interest on the loan in addition to RPI plus 1%

A spokesman for the Treasury said the new scheme was simultaneously designed to help people get onto the property ladder and to help stimulate house building.

If you accept a 40% London equity help-to-buy loan you are required to pay back a 40% share of the value of the home when you come to sell.

image copyright Getty Images image caption The government has funded equity loans in London worth a total value of £194,781,972 since the scheme began in 2013 until June 2015

Between April 2013 and June 2015 the government provided 3,128 help-to-buy equity loans in London worth nearly £200m in total.

In the capital the most help-to-buy loans were supplied in the borough of Havering (362).

Four London boroughs - Haringey, Westminster, Camden and Kensington and Chelsea - had no applications for the scheme. The City of London also had no loan applications.