More than £200m is currently held by first-time buyers in NatWest Help to Buy: ISAs, according to the lender.

Since launch, it said more than 16,000 customers have used the savings product to help towards buying their first home.

The government initiative reaches its two-year anniversary this December – the latest statistics released in September showed more than 83,686 property completions had been supported by the scheme with 113,868 bonuses been paid averaging £678.

In total £77m of bonuses were paid up to the end of June 2017 which were used to finance properties worth £14.3bn in total.
 
Younger and cheaper

The average value of a property purchased through the scheme is £170,862 compared to an average first-time buyer house price of £189,000 and a national average house price of £223,000.

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Meanwhile, the typical age of a first-time buyer in the scheme is 27 compared to a national first-time buyer age of 30.

The highest proportion of property completions with the support of the scheme is in the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber and West Midlands, with a lower proportion in the North East and Northern Ireland.

NatWest said its customers were receiving an average bonus of £700 from the government, with £167 saved on average each month.