Last checked at 
* RBS says 171.6 mln stg of mortgages agreed in principle
* Halifax has had applications for mortgages worth 194 mlnstg
LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - State-backed Royal Bank ofScotland has agreed in principle mortgages with 1,080customers since Britain's flagship 'Help to Buy' housingstimulus programme was launched a month ago.
Britain's Conservative government is pushing the plan, witha 2015 election in mind, as a way to help people move onto, orup, the property ladder, and stimulate growth after three yearsof economic stagnation.
RBS, which owns NatWest, said 73 percent of the mortgageswere for first-time buyers. If all of the applications areapproved, the bank will be lending 171.6 million pounds ($274.5million) under the scheme.
It said the average amount its customers wanted to borrowwas 159,000 pounds and the average price of the home they wantedto buy was 167,565 pounds.
"These are majority young first-time buyers who, without'Help to Buy', wouldn't have been able to consider a mortgage orbuy a home," said Lloyd Cochrane, head of mortgages at NatWestand RBS.
Meanwhile Halifax, owned by RBS's part-nationalised rivalLloyds Banking Group, said it had received 1,309mortgage applications from home buyers across the UK who havefound a property to purchase. Halifax said the applications werefor mortgages worth a total of 194 million pounds.
Critics say that unless the three-year scheme is properlyscrutinised it could drive up house prices in sought-after areaslike London and create a housing bubble that might burst wheninterest rates start to rise later this decade.
RBS is allowing customers to draw down the funds before thescheme officially launches in January and said 5 customers hadalready purchased new homes through the scheme.
