Housing woes

When Graeme Brown, director of Shelter, refers to “Scotland’s chronic shortage of affordable housing” (Letters, 2 October), is he aware that there are thousands of second-hand homes currently languishing unsold on the market with prices below £100,000?

In east-central Scotland, a one-bedroomed bungalow can 
currently be purchased for £37,500, three bedrooms are available in Livingston for less than £100,000 and in the heart of Edinburgh there are hundreds of one-bedroom flats in Leith, 
Gorgie and other areas selling for less than £90,000.

Many of these properties are distressed sales with debts to clear and unless the government takes action soon, there are likely to be many more of these. Other stuck properties belong to young house-owners, often with families, trying to move up the property ladder. They desperately need a helping hand from the Scottish Government.

It could do two easy things to stimulate the market. First, it could postpone the expense of a Home Report until the point of offer. Second, it could provide a stamp duty holiday for purchases up to £250,000. Instead of taxpayers’ money being poured into subsiding construction companies and social housing charities, is it not sensible for the government to facilitate the sale of the existing housing stock first?

I expect we will see these two measures brought in to provide a feel-good factor just before the independence vote in 2014. By then, it will be far too late to save many home-owners from the misery of negative equity.

A Townsend

Morningside Drive

Edinburgh