To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

(1) what additional funding will be provided to the Homebuy Direct scheme as a result of the Budget 2009; and how many additional homes it is expected to purchase;

(2) how many homes she expects to be purchased under the Homebuy Direct scheme in each of the next three years.

I announced in December 2008 that sufficient funding had been made available to help up to 18,000 first-time buyers enter affordable home ownership through the HomeBuy Direct scheme by the end of 2009-10. The actual number of transactions will depend on take-up.

£400 million of additional funding will be made available as a result of the Budget to unlock currently stalled housing developments, leveraging in private development finance through a combination of reducing up-front costs with equity, gap and infrastructure funding, and additional funding for social and affordable housing. We estimate that this will provide up to 5,000 properties over the next two years to help first-time buyers, including through our HomeBuy Direct and Rent to HomeBuy schemes. The precise amount of additional funding provided to the HomeBuy Direct scheme will depend on the sites that come forward from developers, and ultimately on take-up by buyers.