A TOTAL of 782 people have been able to purchase a house thanks to the Government's Help To Buy scheme.

However, concerns have been voiced over rising house prices and the impact of loans residents have to pay back.

Figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show there were 200 uses of Help to Buy in Bournemouth from quarter two of 2013 up to quarter three of 2017.

In the same period, Poole saw 262 clients, East Dorset 111, North Dorset 101, New Forest 40, Purbeck 35 and Christchurch 33.

Cllr Robert Lawton, Bournemouth Borough Council's cabinet member for housing, said: "Two hundred is good, but I would like to have seen even more people making use of the scheme.

"I'm all in favour of the scheme and I would welcome anything the Government can do to improve it to get more people on the housing ladder."

The number of people using the scheme in Bournemouth rose year-on-year from 2013 up until 2016. The full figures for 2017 are not currently available.

Overall equity loans totalling £39,025,122 were given out to home buyers across the Echo conurbation, which under the scheme must be repaid within 25 years of purchasing the house or the equivalent percentage of any future sale must be repaid to the Homes and Communities Agency.

The loan covers up to 20 per cent of the cost to purchase a new build home, making them available to all who wish to buy a new home, but may be constrained in doing so.

Lindsay Judge, senior policy analyst at the national research group the Resolution Foundation, said Help to Buy has a number of key flaws, despite getting a number of people on the housing ladder.

"Evidence suggests Help to Buy has driven up the price of new build homes for example, while many of those who have benefited from it say they could have bought a home without its help," she said.

"The impact on families’ living standards as they start to pay back these loans must be carefully monitored if the government is to expand the scheme."

Luke Murphy, associate director for environment, housing and infrastructure at fellow think tank Institute for Public Policy Research, had further concerns that Help to Buy is pushing up housing prices.

“Research has shown that Help to Buy pushes up property prices and helps those who would have been able to buy anyway," he said.

“Rather than propping up demand, IPPR has recommended the Government should focus on increasing the supply of affordable homes by increasing capital expenditure on affordable housing, devolving control over the funds for Help to Buy to local areas and allowing local councils to buy up land at a lower cost so they can provide more affordable homes."