Since its introduction in the autumn of 2012, Scotland’s MI New Home initiative has proved instrumental in helping first time buyers onto the property ladder. The scheme enables buyers with as little as a 5% deposit to purchase a new property up to the value of £250,000. We at FirstMortgage have noticed a significant increase in enquiries regarding MI New Home, and our local branches continue to report a real enthusiasm for this kind of innovative measure.
With MI New Home having helped 500 people to buy a property; contributing approximately £10M in new home sales each month, Scotland’s housing market is looking increasingly buoyant. As a brokerage, we commend the government for introducing this measure which has thrown first time buyers a much needed lifeline.
The recent successes of MI New Home are further reflected in the number of lenders now participating. As the scheme began with RBS, the Bank of Scotland and Nationwide as well as less than a dozen house builders, there remained debate as to whether there would actually be enough new build property to go round. However, with 25 house builders now on board, the number of properties which qualify for the scheme is only set to increase further- which is good news for us all!