LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government said on Thursday that 7,313 mortgages were issued through its Help to Buy programme in the first six months of its existence, just 1.3 percent of all mortgages issued over the same period.
The finance ministry also said 80 percent of Help to Buy mortgages were taken out by first-time buyers.
The total value of mortgages supported by the scheme totalled just over 1 billion pounds through the end of March.
Under the mortgage guarantee part of the programme, introduced in October of last year, the government provides guarantees for mortgages worth up to 95 percent of the value of a property.
(Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa; editing by William Schomberg)