The Government's flagship Help to Buy housing scheme has helped more than 88,000 people buy a new home since its creation in 2013, the Treasury has announced.

Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the figure as proof that the scheme was "working" by encouraging construction companies to build new properties.

Some 80% of those using Help to Buy equity loan and mortgage guarantee schemes since their launch have been first-time buyers, who made up 66,661 of the 88,420 total, said the Treasury.

Over half of Help to Buy completions have involved new-build homes and the average price of property bought has been £185,000 - well below the national average of £272,000. The vast majority - 94% - have been outside London.

Various schemes operate under the Help to Buy banner to help would-be home-buyers cope with the larger deposits which have been widely demanded by lenders since the financial crash of 2008.

The England-only equity loan scheme allows buyers to borrow up to 20% of a property's value from the Government to top up their 5% contribution to the deposit, while NewBuy lets purchasers in England buy a newly-built property with a deposit of just 5% and the UK-wide mortgage guarantee scheme offers lenders the option to purchase a guarantee on mortgage loans.

Visiting a construction site in Cannock, Staffordshire, where more than 200 properties are being built by Bellway Homes on the site of an old automotive lighting factory, Mr Cameron said: "We're seeing an enormous recovery in house-building. It's been growing every year over the last years, and part of that is because of Help to Buy.

"Today, we demonstrate that 88,000 people in our country have been able to get on to the housing ladder because of the Help to Buy scheme. So we are now seeing housing starts up, housing completions, building taking place.

"The estate we are standing on now, the builder said to me it was because of Help to Buy that they started building more homes, building more quickly. It's working, and more people are getting the security and stability of owning a home of their own."

The figures were released as separate research, from property website Zoopla, suggested that the stock of properties on the market which would be eligible for Help to Buy has fallen over the last year.

Zoopla analysed properties for sale across England and Wales up to the value of £600,000. It said that while the number of properties in this bracket has fallen by 7.4% year-on-year, the biggest fall has been in the East of England, which has seen a 12.3% reduction in suitable stock on the market over the period.

On a more local level, Zoopla said that Stockport has witnessed the sharpest decline in properties eligible for Help to Buy, with available stock falling by 24.3% compared with a year ago. Compared with March 2014, the website said that Rochdale and Huddersfield have also seen sharp declines in properties that meet the initiative's criteria, with falls of 16.9% and 15.6% respectively.

On the other hand, some areas have seen increases in the number of homes for sale over the last year that could be bought under Help to Buy. Worcester has seen the biggest increase, with a 5.4% uplift, followed by Cheltenham with a 3.3% increase and Exeter with a 3.2% rise in the number of eligible properties for sale, Zoopla said.

Zoopla spokesman Lawrence Hall said that a still limited supply of homes for buyers to choose from has led to rapid price growth and this in turn "appears to have airlifted many properties out of the starter home zone".

Mr Hall said: "The pool of homes on the market within reach of Help to Buy assistance needs to expand, or this pinch on supply will continue to inflate prices at the bottom rungs of the ladder."

Separate research from housing charity Shelter found today that first-time buyers would be paying around £77,000 less for a property if house price inflation had not outstripped the pace of wage increases in recent decades.

Chancellor George Osborne said: "It's great news that the Government's Help to Buy scheme has now helped almost 90,000 people across the country achieve their dream of buying a new or bigger home.

"We've only been able to help thousands of people in the UK because our long-term economic plan is working: through schemes like Help to Buy we're supporting hard-working taxpayers buy their own home, driving an increase in house building in Britain, ensuring long-term housing supply and creating jobs."

Home Builders Federation executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: "Help to Buy has helped tens of thousands of people on to the housing ladder who otherwise would have struggled to meet their ambition of home ownership. First-time buyers in particular are taking advantage and the scheme is helping people in every part of the country.

"The resultant rise in demand is allowing builders to increase much needed house building levels. This in turn is creating tens of thousands of jobs and boosting local economies the length and breadth of the country."