News article 20/03/2013

(Issued 20 March 2013) 
 

Applauding the bold measures outlined in today’s Budget for those who want to buy their own home, described by the Chancellor as “the most human of aspirations”, the Scottish home building industry immediately called on the Scottish Government to “pick up the gauntlet” and deliver comparable levels of support and commitment.

With housing production in Scotland at its lowest level since the Second World War¹ and the country facing a projected shortfall of around 150,000 new homes over the next 20 or so years², Philip Hogg, Chief Executive of trade body Homes for Scotland, whose members provide 95% of all new homes built for sale as well as a significant proportion of affordable housing, said:

“The far-reaching benefits associated with home building are well recognized so we obviously very much welcome the focus, long overdue though it may be, given in today’s Budget, with the key points of the Chancellor’s Help To Buy initiative being a £3.5bn boost to shared equity schemes in England and a guarantee to support £130bn of mortgage lending across the whole UK housing market, which we believe are likely to have a major positive impact.

“The Chancellor today demonstrated that he understands the difficulties facing home buyers and our industry, and that he is prepared to act to address them in order to break out of the current economic deadlock.

“We have been calling for enhancements to the Scottish Government’s shared equity scheme for some time and now urgently need an equivalent commitment north of the border to ensure that households right across the UK enjoy similar support and Scotland is not disadvantaged in relation to attracting investment.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. Housing Statistics for Scotland – All sector new build (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/NewBuildAllSector)

2. As specified within the Scottish Government’s Sustainable Housing Strategy
(http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0039/00395756.pdf)