Official Statistics

Forces Help to Buy Quarterly Statistics - Quarter 3 2023/24

Updated 16 May 2024

This quarterly statistical release provides summary statistics on applications, payments and purchases made under the Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) scheme.

The scheme, which became an enduring policy on 1 January 2023, enables service personnel to borrow up to 50% of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000 interest free towards the purchase of a property.

Main Points and Trends

Since the Scheme began in April 2014:

• 71,570 First Stage FHTB applications have been received.

• 34,460 of these applications have proceeded to the Second Stage.

• Payment has been made to around 30,200 applicants, totalling over £460 million, an average of approximately £15,432 per claim.

• At least 95% of payments, as at 30 December 2023, have already resulted in a purchased property or extension.  

Figure 1: FHTB Payments – Q1 2018/19 to Q3 2023/24

Source: DBS

Figure 1 is a bar chart showing the number of FHTB payments made each financial quarter between April 2018 to December 2024 and the quarterly average for each financial year. The data for this chart is available in table 2a of the supplementary tables.

In Q3 (1 Oct to 30 Dec 2023) 2023/24:

• 755 First Stage applications were received.

• 384 Second Stage applications were received.

• 322 payments were made to Service personnel.

Responsible Statistician: Analysis Publications Head of Branch  

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Please refer to the Supplementary tables for all data presented in this publication.

Introduction

The FHTB scheme was launched in April 2014, the aim of this scheme is to address the low rate of home ownership within the armed forces, as well as meeting the aims of the Defence Accommodation Strategy in recognising the positive impact owning a home can have during an inherently mobile career. On the 19 December 2022 it was announced that from the 1 January 2023 the Forces Help to Buy Scheme would become an enduring policy.

The scheme enables Service Personnel to borrow up to 50% of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000, interest free towards the purchase of a property. More information about the scheme including eligibility and how to apply can be found at Forces Help to Buy guidance.

Questions about home ownership and the FHTB scheme are included in the Armed Forces continuous attitude survey.

First stage applications are those which pass initial eligibility checks, and second stage applications are those which pass detailed eligibility checks. The number of applications fluctuates from month to month and year to year based on the current market, current climate and is very much customer driven.

First and second stage application data and the values of FHTB payments are provided by Defence Business Services (DBS). The service and rank breakdowns are provided from Joint Personnel Administration (JPA). The two sets of data are ‘as at’ different dates in a month. DBS data is as at the end of the preceding month and JPA data is produced according to when the last pay run for military personnel was completed. The pay run occurs in the middle of the month and varies according to the month length.

Data on the proportion of payments that result in purchases of properties or extensions under the scheme are provided by Defence Business Services (DBS) on a quarterly basis. Some FHTB payments do not result in the purchase of a property or the extension of an existing property due, for example, to changes in personal circumstances or to the withdrawal of a party from a property chain.

Applications

Figure 2: FHTB First Stage Applications – Q1 2018/19 to Q3 2023/24

Source: DBS

Figure 2 is a bar chart showing the number of first stage applications made between April 2018 and December 2023 with a line representing the quarterly average of first stage applications for each financial year. Q3 2018 and 2019 are labelled as points where an extension of the scheme was announced.

There were 755 first stage applications in Q3 2023/24, a 23% decrease in applications compared to the same time period last year Q3 2022/23 (986).

The data for figure 2 is available in table 1 below and table 1a of the supplementary tables.

Table 1: Quarterly average number of First Stage applications by financial year.

Financial year	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24
Quarterly average of first stage applications	1,923	2,210	2,534	1,749	1,277	975

The quarterly average of first stage applications for the financial year 2023/24 has decreased 24% since 2022/23 and is the lowest quarterly average recorded since the scheme started. The stamp duty holiday introduced in Q2 2020/21 (July 2020) ended in Q1 2021/22 in Scotland and Wales and in Q2 in England and Northern Ireland.

Figure 3: FHTB Second Stage Applications – Q1 2018/19 to Q3 2023/24

Source: DBS

Figure 3 is a bar chart showing the number of second stage applications made between April 2018 and December 2023 with a line representing the quarterly average of second stage applications for each financial year. Q3 2018 and 2019 are labelled as points where an extension of the scheme was announced.

There were 384 second stage applications in Q3 2023/24, this is a 19% decrease in applications compared to the same time period last year Q3 2022/23 (476).

The data for figure 3 is available in table 2 below and table 1a of the supplementary tables.

Table 2: Quarterly average number of second stage applications by financial year

Financial year	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24
Quarterly average of second stage applications	932	879	945	703	514	433

The quarterly average of second stage applications for the financial year 2023/24 has decreased 16% since 2022/23, and is the lowest quarterly average recorded since the scheme started. The stamp duty holiday introduced in Q2 2020/21 (July 2020) ended in Q1 2021/22 in Scotland and Wales and in Q2 in England and Northern Ireland.

Payments and Purchases

A total of 30,200 payments have been made under the FHTB scheme since it was introduced in April 2014 (as at 31 December 2023). With an average claim of approximately £15,432, this has resulted in expenditure of over £466 million.

Figure 4: FHTB Payments – Q1 2018/19 to Q3 2023/24

Source: DBS

Figure 4 is the same bar chart as in figure 1 with additional reference points, Q3 2018 and 2019 are labelled as points where an extension of the scheme was announced.

There were 322 payments made in Q3 2023/24, this is a 43% decrease in payments compared to the same time period last year Q3 2022/23 (566).

The data for figure 4 is available in table 3 below and table 2a of the supplementary tables.

Table 3: Quarterly average number of payments

Financial year	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24
Quarterly average of Payments	871	815	772	738	493	384

The quarterly average for the number of payments in 2023/24 decreased by 22% compared to 2022/23 and is the lowest recorded quarterly average since the scheme started.

Payments and Purchases by Rank and Service

Figure 5: Payments by Rank, Q3 2023/24

Source: JPA

Figure 5 is a bar chart showing the percentage of payments made to Officers and Other Ranks in Q3 2023/24.

In Q3 2023/24, the highest percentage of payments were made to Other Ranks, 71%, compared to 29% of payments made to Officers^{[footnote 1]}.

For comparative purposes, the regular full-time trained Armed Forces strength population is made up of 80% Other Ranks and 20% Officers^{[footnote 2]}.

Figure 6: Payments by Service, Q3 2023/24

Source: JPA

Figure 6 is a bar chart showing the percentage of payments made to Army, Royal Navy/Marines and Royal Air Force personnel in Q3 2023/24.

The highest percentage of the payments in Q3 2023/24 were made to Army personnel, 45%, with 28% of payments made to Royal Navy/Royal Marines personnel and 28% to RAF personnel^{[footnote 1]}. 

For comparative purposes, the regular full-time trained Armed Forces strength population is made up of 56% Army personnel, 22% RN/RM personnel and 22% RAF personnel^{[footnote 2]}.

It is estimated that at least 95% of payments, as at 30 September 2023, have already resulted in a purchased property or extension. There is a small lag between payments and loan repayments once a property has been purchased or extended. Some FHTB payments do not result in the purchase of a property or the extension of an existing property, due, for example, to changes in personal circumstance or to the withdrawal of a party from a property chain.

Glossary

Forces Help to Buy (FHTB): FHTB is an advance of salary scheme which was introduced in April 2014 and allows Service personnel to borrow money in order to buy their first home or move to a new location.

Regular Armed Forces Personnel: Full time Service personnel excluding Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel.

First Stage applications: Applications which pass initial eligibility checks.

Second Stage applications: Applications which pass detailed eligibility checks.

Defence Business Services (DBS): Organisation which provides corporate services, such as recruitment and payroll, across the Ministry of Defence.

Joint Personnel Administration (JPA): The system used by the Armed Forces to deal with matters of pay, leave and other personnel administrative tasks. JPA replaced several single Service IT systems and was implemented in April 2006 for RAF, November 2006 for Naval Service and April 2007 for Army.

Q1: April to June.

Q2: July to September.

Q3: October to December.

Q4: January to March.

Further Information

Revisions

Corrections to the published statistics will be made if errors are found, or if figures change because of improvements to methodology or changes to definitions. When making corrections, we will follow the Ministry of Defence Statistics, revisions and corrections policy. All corrected figures will be identified by the symbol [r], and an explanation will be given of the reason for and size of the revision. Corrections which would have a significant impact on the utility of the statistics will be corrected as soon as possible, by reissuing the publication. Minor errors will also be corrected, but for convenience these corrections may be timed to coincide with the next release of the publication.

Rounding

Payment figures in this publication have been rounded to the nearest £1. Percentages are calculated from unrounded data and rounded to the nearest whole number, therefore may not sum to 100%.

Statistics quoted in the narrative may be rounded for clarity, with more precise figures available in the Supplementary tables

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1. JPA data is produced according to when the last pay run for military personnel was completed. The pay run occurs in the middle of the month, which varies according to the month length. Therefore, the Officer/ Other Rank and Service breakdowns represent the number of payments recorded between the pay runs in that month and the preceding month. ↩ ↩²

2. Based on latest figures as at 1 April 2023 taken from the Defence Statistics Quarterly Service Personnel Publication. Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100%. ↩ ↩²