News article 30/10/2013

(Issued 29 October 2013)

Responding to Registers of Scotland (RoS) figures for the last quarter which indicate that the number of homes sold between July and September this year increased significantly on the same period last year¹, Chief Executive of trade body Homes for Scotland Philip Hogg said:

“We welcome these latest figures which indicate an increase of 22.5% in the total volume of sales registered across Scotland in the last quarter – representing the highest quarterly figure recorded by RoS since 2008.

“This positive indicator is further reinforced by the recent addition of the Help to Buy (Scotland) shared equity scheme, which has already proven to be a major stimulus to market recovery since its launch just last month.

“However, whilst both consumer and business confidence may be growing, if we are to build enough homes to meet Scotland’s requirements we need to address the supply-side issues such as skills, developer contributions and the release of land for housing which may yet hamper a sustainable recovery.”

Ends

1.  Registers of Scotland Quarterly House Price Statistical Report: July -  September    2013
http://www.ros.gov.uk/pdfs/ros_statistical_report_Jul-Sep_2013.pdf