The “budget of choices” delivered by Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy Kate Forbes this afternoon has missed a prime opportunity to encourage a consumer shift towards low carbon homes and fails Scotland’s would-be First Time Buyers.

That is the view of trade body Homes for Scotland (HFS) as it responded to the spending announcement which was directed by the priorities of tackling inequalities, supporting the economy and ending the country’s contribution to climate change.

HFS Chief Executive Nicola Barclay said:

“With COP26 still fresh in our minds, it’s essential that environmental factors become a key determinant for people when choosing a home so it is extremely disappointing that a prime opportunity to encourage such a shift by linking rates of Land & Buildings Transaction Tax and council tax to levels of domestic energy-efficiency has been missed.

“Also frustrating for the 82 per cent of households in Scotland that would like to own their own home, the Scottish Government abruptly closed its hugely successful Help to Buy main scheme and First Home Fund earlier this year due to a reduction in Financial Transactions received from Westminster.  Now this has been increased by £134m but nothing has been allocated to restore these initiatives, leaving the Open Market Shared Equity scheme, the criteria for which excludes many would-be purchasers, as the only means of government assistance.  Rather than tackling inequality, I fear this will see the gap between the ‘housing haves’ and the ‘housing have nots’ continuing to grow.

“Whilst the continuing commitment for affordable housing is to be welcomed, it once again appears that the fundamental role that the private sector has to play in terms of both delivery and wider economic recovery has been overlooked.”