The Help to Buy equity loan scheme has netted the Government £1.74 billion, new data shows - though falling flat prices are likely to stunt returns in the future. As of March this year, it has made a £1.24billion profit on loan repayments from the 214,000 people that have repaid their loans, thanks to house price increases. It has also made £500million in interest payments on the loans, according to the annual report of Homes England, which manages repayments. The Help to Buy equity loan scheme was introduced in 2013 to help people get on the property ladder and closed to new applications in 2023. The Government would provide a loan comprising up to 20 per cent of a home's value, or 40 per cent in London, and the buyer would put in 5 per cent. The most they could borrow was £120,000 or £240,000 in London. But when home buyers repaid, they would owe the Government 20 or 40 per cent of its value at that time, not the amount they initially borrowed. If house prices increased, which they generally did, the Government would make a profit. Help to Buy: The equity loan scheme helped buyers on to the property ladder in new-build homes such as these flats in London - as well as making a profit for the Treasury The loans were interest-free for the first five years. After that, buyers could pay interest or remortgage to buy out the Government, but the loan had to be repaid if they sold the home. The scheme was limited to first-time buyers only in 2021 and closed to new applicants in March 2023.As of March, there were around 173,000 equity loans that hadn't been repaid. Falling flat prices will hit Government gainsWhile Help to Buy provided a stepping stone into home ownership, it has been criticised for inflating house prices. Because developers knew that many buyers could get a 20 per cent loan or more from the Government, it has been claimed that some raised their prices meaning that buyers overpaid for their homes. As Help to Buy was restricted to new builds, some of those buyers could now be struggling to sell their homes due to the falling flat market and issues with leasehold apartments.The typical flat fell in price by 5.3 per cent in the 12 months to March, from £199,186 to £188,643, Land Registry data shows. And more recent statistics from PropertyData suggest the average flat owner sold for £39,509 less than what they had paid for their home in the past 12 months.