News article 26/11/2013

(Issued 26 November 2013)

Responding to today’s figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showing Scottish house purchase lending at its highest quarterly levels since 2008, Chief Executive of industry body Homes for Scotland Philip Hogg said:

“Today’s figures are very encouraging across the whole of the market. With the recently launched Help to Buy (Scotland) shared equity initiative already making a big impact and a choice of 95% mortgage guarantee schemes now also available, buyers have a range of solutions open to them to help meet their individual needs and home ownership aspirations.

“We hope this trend is sustainable and continues into 2014 so that this upturn in activity may translate into the building of much needed new homes. However, major supply-side issues such as land supply and skills shortages will need to be addressed if output is to increase to the levels required to meet housing need.”

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