The UK government's Help to Buy housing scheme primarily benefited higher earners rather than those with lower incomes, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The influential think tank's research found that people with higher incomes received greater benefits from the house-buying scheme compared to those with lower earnings, raising questions about the program's effectiveness in helping those most in need of housing assistance.

Help to Buy was introduced as a government initiative designed to help people purchase homes by providing financial support for buyers. The scheme aimed to make homeownership more accessible across different income levels.

The IFS findings suggest that the policy may not have achieved its intended goal of broadly expanding access to homeownership, particularly for lower-income households who typically face the greatest barriers to buying property.

The research adds to ongoing debates about the effectiveness of government housing interventions and whether such schemes deliver benefits to their intended beneficiaries or inadvertently favor those already in stronger financial positions.