NewBuy is a government supported mortgage indemnity scheme, which allows buyers to secure their new-build home with a deposit of between 5 to 10%.
The system was launched with the aim of selling 100,000 new homes over the next three years, but has only achieved around 400 in the period since its launch in March.
The figures only include those who have reserved a property using the scheme, with even less completing a full purchase.
Steve Turner, head of communications at the HBF, said that he expected the scheme to gain momentum and was confident it would be used to build ‘tens of thousands’ of new homes.
“The 100,000 is not a figure we use, we have always been looking at tens of thousands of new homes. 100,000 is the best possible scenario.
“We obviously hope we reach that and we think it still reach tens of thousands over the three years.
“It will take time for us to ramp up the scheme and get customer awareness. We’ve had a lot of enquiries and a good level of interest.
“We were not expecting to see optimum sales in the first month and obviously it takes time for house sales to go through.”
Andy Frankish, director New Homes at Mortgage Talk, part of Mortgage Advice Bureau, also cautioned it is early days for NewBuy.
“Although the scheme has been active for nine weeks, two of the biggest lenders – Halifax and Abbey – only launched products in the last few weeks. Let’s also not forget the reservation process to buy a new home can take as long as four weeks.
“I cannot understand why people want to criticise the product so strongly. I bet the 400 people who have used the product are more than happy it exists.”
