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Whilst figures suggest the Scottish housing market is improving, a closer look at the statistics show the picture is not quite that simple. According to reports the number of people buying for the first time in Scotland is the greatest it has been for 3 years and Banks and Building Societies are apparently more willing to offer financing to these buyers. But looking more carefully at the facts and figures, borrowing in Scotland is still far behind the rest of the UK and overall the number of mortgages given to property buyers in Scotland has gone down. This decline will impede any recovery of the Scottish property market as it will stop people upgrading and moving up the property ladder and freeing up first time buyer type houses at the bottom of the ladder. There is the potential for recovery as there are many home owners wanting to sell and plenty of people trying to buy, but both are being prevented by a difficult borrowing position. This situation is the same right across the UK. As the Uk Government keeps being told and keeps failing at, the Scottish government must also look at pushing the lending institutions to relax their borrowing restrictions and enable more people to get a mortgage and provide movement in the housing sector. So far both the Scottish and the UK Governments have mainly looked at assisting the development of new build houses but with no plans or schemes to help the market for existing homes. This helps only a limited part of the property market. Policy makers should be looking at ways to get the whole property market moving and allows the cogs of the housing market to move up and down the property ladder. There needs to be schemes in place to help with the buying of existing houses, not just new builds from developers. The current schemes in place should be widened to cover the entire house market. In December the Scottish secretary for Finance, Mr John Swinney introduced a new tax bill, called the land and buildings transaction bill. This is to replace the current stamp duty scheme in Scotland and aims to make it more affordable for first time buyers or families looking to upgrade to a large house. However the bill would not be enacted and come into force until April 2015 and so is of no help now for the struggling property Scottish market. The Scottish Government needs to act immediately to kick start the housing market in Scotland. If you are interested in the Scottish property market and further news and Related Articles -
Scotland, property, real estate, mortgages,
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