The Scottish Government recently announced a new shared equity scheme to help homebuyers to get on the property ladder. Focusing on new-build homes, £195 million will be spent over the next three years to help around 6,500 households buy a home.
The scheme will focus on affordable homes, whereby eligible recipients will receive an equity loan towards the purchase price of a new-build home.
The introduction of this new affordable housing scheme comes after the existing Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme proved a huge success, becoming fully subscribed earlier this year. The Help to Buy (Scotland) Small Developers scheme however is still accepting applications for properties completed up to March 31st 2016 from a large list of registered builders.
Alex Neil, Social Justice Secretary said that ensuring everyone in Scotland “…has access to good-quality housing is a vital part of the Scottish Government’s drive to secure economic growth, promote social justice, strengthen communities, and tackle inequality.” He goes on to point out that by targeting affordable homes, the new scheme will widen access by helping families to buy new-build homes. The aim is to have helped approximately 14,000 families buy a home through either the Help to Buy scheme, or its successor.
Approximately half a billion pounds has been invested via home buying schemes over the last six years, which has given the construction and private sector industries a substantial boost. The scheme has been touted for its popularity, with regeneration firm Urban Union Ltd noting that a large number of buyers at their Pennywell (Edinburgh) and Lauriston (Glasgow) developments received Help to Buy funding.
More details are expected to be announced later this month, after the UK Government’s spending review on November 25th.