£24m funding package to help first-time buyers get on to the property ladder

Published on Sunday 20 January 2008 21:01

SCOTLAND'S communities minister is to announce a £24 million funding package to help hundreds of first-time buyers get a foot on the property ladder.

Those on low incomes are to benefit from the rolling out of a shared-equity scheme trialled in Edinburgh and the Lothians, according to the Scottish Government. Six other property hotspot areas are to be included in the initiative.

The Open Market Shared Equity Pilot was created to assist those wanting to buy a home on the open market with the help of a housing association. Mr Maxwell said: "Through the low-cost initiative for first-time buyers, we are expanding assistance through a mix of government grants, shared-equity schemes and mortgage-related products and services.

"I am particularly keen to work with private lenders and investors to help achieve more shared-equity homes for first-time buyers, by taking forward our manifesto commitment to create a Scottish housing support fund."

The minister is to attend the Building Homes for Scotland conference in Edinburgh today, where he will tell delegates Scotland is about to embark upon a new era for housing.

He will stress the need to create a housing system that meets the needs of communities for good-quality, energy-efficient houses that are affordable.

Mr Maxwell said: "Housing supply is failing to match demand and first-time buyers are being priced out of the market, adding to the pressures on an already stretched social rented sector.

"When Nicola Sturgeon launched our ambitious set of proposals for the future of Scotland's housing at the end of October she made clear that action was needed in response to a failing housing system."