NewsArticle-19-01-2009

The Scottish home building industry has welcomed today’s Government announcements aimed at increasing lending capacity but called for these to be followed through immediately.

Jonathan Fair (right), Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, the organisation which represents companies building 95% of the country’s new homes, said:

“Homes for Scotland and others in the lending community have been calling on the Government to act on the recommendations of Sir James Crosby for months in order to protect jobs and stimulate recovery in the housing market.  Today we finally have some action.

“Whilst this is welcome news indeed, the implementation of many of these measures, particularly the Guarantee scheme for asset backed securities, lies many weeks if not months away.  It is therefore far too early to comment on what the full impact may be.  What is certain, however, is that increasing the availability of mortgage finance is key to solving the problems facing the home building sector.  We have already waited long enough.  The Government must now follow through on these announcements immediately.”

Ends

Enquiries to:

Jennifer Kennedy, Homes for Scotland – 0131 455 8350 

Note to Editors:

1. Homes for Scotland represents the country’s home building industry which:
-  is the largest source of private investment in Scotland
-  is the largest user of the planning system in Scotland
-  in 2007 built 20,000 new homes, contributed £6bn to the economy and directly impacted the employment of 100,000 people

2. To read today’s Government announcements, click here.