First time buyers offered support
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Scotland's communities minister is to announce a £24m funding package to help hundreds of first-time buyers get a foot on the property ladder. Stewart Maxwell will unveil plans for government grants and shared equity schemes to help those on low incomes. The Open Market Shared Equity scheme was previously trialled in Edinburgh and Lothians and will be rolled out in six other areas. People in Highland, Aberdeen and Moray are among those to be included. The initiative, which allows people to buy a home on the open market with the assistance of a housing association, will also be extended to cover Aberdeenshire, Stirling and Perth & Kinross. Mr Maxwell said: "Through the Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers, we are expanding assistance through a mix of government grants, shared-equity schemes and mortgage-related products and services. "Housing supply is failing to match demand and first-time buyers are being priced out of the market adding to the pressures on an already stretched social rented sector. "I am particularly keen to work with private lenders and investors to help achieve more shared-equity homes for first-time buyers, by taking forward our manifesto commitment to create a Scottish Housing Support Fund." The minister will attend the Building Homes for Scotland conference in Edinburgh on Monday where he will stress the need for high quality and energy-efficient affordable housing. |
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