News article 3/10/2012

(Issued 3 October 2012) 
 

The importance with which the Scottish Government is attaching to the green agenda and tackling fuel poverty highlights the significant benefits offered by new build homes in both these regards, says Homes for Scotland.

The organisation’s Chief Executive Philip Hogg said:

“With energy bills having rocketed by 91% since 2006¹ and warnings that prices could rise further this winter², new build homes offer some welcome relief for pressured household budgets.

“Indeed, research has found that living in new energy efficient homes could create annual savings of around 55% on gas and electricity spending³ – significant potential savings when you consider the average annual energy bill is nearly £1,300¹.

“These figures indicate the kind of savings that can be achieved by new homes, which in Scotland are built to some of the highest technical standards in Europe. This means they are far better insulated, heated and ventilated than second-hand properties. This all helps to reduce their carbon emissions (which have fallen by 70% since 1990⁴) and running costs.

“What’s more, our retrofit proposals, contained in the Scottish Government’s Sustainable Housing Strategy⁵, could make a significant contribution to the fight against fuel poverty by helping to improve the energy efficiency of existing housing stock as more new homes are delivered.”

Helping people to take advantage of these energy benefits, new homes recently became even more accessible with 95% mortgages now available through the MI New Home scheme which aims to help credit-worthy buyers overcome the barrier of large deposit requirements. Through the scheme, lenders can offer up to 95% mortgages on homes up to £250,000 sold by participating builders.

Source info:

1. uSwitch: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/uswitch-press-room//uswitch.com-comments-on-outlook-for-energy-prices-outlined-in-today’s-boe-inflation-report.pdf  

2. Bank of England inflation report: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/inflationreport/ir1203.aspx  

3. Zero Carbon Hub: http://www.zerocarbonhub.org/news_details.aspx?article=30 

4. Homes that don’t cost the earth – a consultation on Scotland’s Sustainable Housing Strategy: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/06/8390/7  

5. Homes that don’t cost the earth – a consultation on Scotland’s Sustainable Housing Strategy: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/06/8390/4#box5