George Osborne is on course to hit his NewBuy housing target — in 2058

The latest figures for NewBuy, one of George Osborne’s prop-up-the-housing-market schemes, have been published. Mercifully, perhaps, they continue to be underwhelming.

To recap: inspired by the American success story of providing mortgages to those that can’t afford them, the scheme provides a guarantee backed by the government and house-builders (who commit 5.5 and 3.5 per cent of the purchase price of a property, respectively) to lenders. Buyers put in a deposit of 5-10 per cent, but the extra money means they can get a higher loan-to-value mortgage than they could otherwise afford. Houses have to be newly built and costing £500,000 or less. It has to be the buyer’s main residence.

The Chancellor made available funds to support up to 100,000 mortgages. But in its first year, the scheme has helped only 2,291 homebuyers and left the government with a maximum liability of £23.1 million.  This accounts for less than 1pc of first-time purchases.