Perthshire Embraces National Housing Scheme

Published on 21 March 2014

A national scheme, which has thrown a financial lifeline to many house-hunters, is enjoying increased take-up in Perthshire.

Now, local housebuilding firm Stephen is calling for the Help to Buy (Scotland) initiative to be extended after the Chancellor announced that the English equivalent would run until the end of the decade, instead of 2016 as initially planned.

In his 2014 Budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced that the first part of Help to Buy – the equity loan scheme – will be extended for an extra four years until March 2020 at a cost of £6bn to the Government. As a result, Homes for Scotland are pushing the Scottish Government to do the same, and for the Scottish version to also be extended.

The move has been backed by Stephen, where take-up of the interest-free loan has been significant.

Tom Buchanan, Marketing Manager said, “Most of our homes are eligible for the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme – namely, properties up to the cost of £400,000 and, after a slow start, we are now seeing a significant up-take of the initiative. We’re heartened that more people are in a position to buy homes than ever before, particularly those who were struggling to save for hefty deposit requirements. This is reflected in a strong take-up of the initiative across all of our developments, and from buyers in different circumstances, not just first-time buyers. With this much-needed injection to the Scottish property market, we would very much hope that the scheme will be extended in Scotland so that more people can get on the property ladder and fuel our economy further.”

Help to Buy (Scotland) is open to all home buyers, not just first time buyers, and provides help of up to 20% of the purchase price of a home. Buyers therefore pay for the majority share in the property – through a combination of mortgage and deposit. They require to provide a deposit (5%) to their lender and this amount, together with your mortgage, must cover a combined minimum of 80% of the total purchase price.

For more information, telephone 01738 620721, email sales@stephen.co.uk or visit www.stephen.co.uk.

ENDS