A TEACHER is proving there is life in the property market for young adults after securing her first home in Worcester.

Earlier this summer, homeless charity Shelter predicted it would take the average first-time buyer in the city 12 years to save a deposit for a mortgage.

But 25-year-old Laura Wainwright appears to be bucking the trend after moving into a new home in Diglis, Worcester, after taking advantage of a government incentive.

“I left university three years ago and landed a great job as a special needs teacher in an Evesham school,” said Miss Wainwright.

“I wasn’t in a position to buy anywhere, so I rented a ground-floor flat in nearby Upton-upon-Severn.”

Despite being keen to buy a place of her own, she said she feared saving a deposit and securing a mortgage would take years, in light of the Shelter prediction.

However, she took advantage of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme, which aids would-be buyers by offering a loan of 20 per cent of the full price of the home.

“I had a small deposit, so when I heard about the Help to Buy equity loan scheme, I went along to have a look at a couple of developments and am delighted to now be a homeowner at 25,” she said.

She settled on a house on Taylor Wimpey’s Diglis Water development in Worcester Under the Help to Buy scheme, buyers need to fund 80 per cent of the property price through a ‘normal’ mortgage with a lender.

There are no interest charges on the 20 per cent loan for the first five years. Buyers also own the home from the start.