David Cameron’s flagship scheme to help struggling homebuyers has been branded a flop after just a handful of people signed up.

The PM boasted the NewBuy scheme would help 100,000 people get on the housing ladder when he unveiled the plans in a blaze of publicity

The PM boasted the Government’s NewBuy scheme would help 100,000 people get on the housing ladder when he unveiled the plans in a blaze of publicity.

But the latest figures show only 99 homes in England were bought using the scheme in the three months to the end of September 2014 – half the number bought in the previous three months.

And, just 5,518 properties have been purchased since the scheme’s launch in March 2012 – about one in 20 of the 100,000 households that Mr Cameron vowed to help.

Under the scheme, buyers only need to put down 5% of the purchase price – a smaller deposit than lenders usually require – on any new-build house or flat worth up to £500,000.

Last night, Labour slammed the Government’s failure to help would-be homeowners.

The row comes just days after the shake-up of stamp duty in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement which property experts will drive the cost of homes further out of the reach of young buyers.

Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister Emma Reynolds said: “People across the country are priced out of home ownership.

“David Cameron promised to help the next generation on to the housing ladder, but home ownership has fallen to its lowest levels in 30 years.

“The Tories have no plan to tackle the housing crisis and help the next generation get a home of their own.

“Labour has a plan to get at least 200,000 homes built a year by 2020 and make home ownership a realistic aspiration for the next generation.”

When the scheme was launched in 2012, the then Housing Minister Grant Shapps claimed: “The NewBuy Guarantee is offering help for thousands of people who in many cases had previously given up on the dream of home ownership”

But the Government has presided over the lowest levels of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s.