Help to Buy

The Scottish Government has announced the introduction of the Help to Buy (Scotland) Scheme which aims to help stimulate Scotland's house-building industry and to help people to buy a new build home in Scotland from a home builder who has been approved to participate in the scheme.

Main points of the scheme:

• The scheme is only available on new build homes from participating home builders and on homes up to a maximum value of £400,000
• A buyer's mortgage lender is likely to require that the buyer contribute a deposit of 5% of the full purchase price and the mortgage and deposit must cover a combined minimum of 80% of the total purchase price.
• The Scottish Government will help buyers to purchase the property and will take an equity stake of up to 20% of the value of the property
• The Scottish Government's equity stake can be repaid at any time
• All applicants must seek the advice of an independent financial advisor before applying to the scheme
• Typically the mortgage will be based on a multiple of up to 4.5 times the household income of a single person and up to 3.5 times for a couple.

Full details of the scheme can be found on the Scottish Government's website:

[1] The Scottish Government has a web page specifically for housing financial advisers at Lender and IFA information.