The Government devised the Help to Buy Individual Savings Account (HTB Isa) scheme to focus on people wanting to buy their first house. It was introduced in December last year so that people could save up money to buy a home of their own.

It allows people looking to buy their first home to put their deposit into a tax-free savings account, and receive a 25% bonus up to a maximum of £3000 when they actually buy their house.

However, the average prices for starter homes in many surpass the maximum purchase cap of £250,000, or £450,000 in London.

The aforementioned bonus is only available if the house price is within the cap.

Housing charity Shelter slammed the scheme, claiming that it only helped "the lucky few" and the government should focus on building more homes.

Campbell Robb, chief executive charity Shelter, said, "Soaring housing costs have left millions of people stuck in a rent trap and struggling to save anything towards a home of their own.”

Personal finance commentator Martin Lewis, of MoneySavingExpert.com, said potential homeowners shouldn’t be disheartened about the scheme.

He said, "It is a cash giveaway from the taxpayer. Even if you don't end up using it to buy a house, you still have savings with a very favourable rate of interest."

Richard Donnell, research and insight director from Hometrack, said, "In order to appeal to a wider group of buyers, builders need to start building smaller houses to offer at the lower price point to help first time buyers get on the housing ladder.”