Scotland’s home building industry cheered today’s Budget announcement that stamp duty is to be scrapped on house purchases up to £250,000 for First Time Buyers (FTBs) this year and next.

Jonathan Fair, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, the industry body whose membership provides 95% of new homes built for sale as well as an increasingly significant proportion of affordable housing, said: "Having chosen not to extend the stamp duty holiday in December’s pre-budget report, we are delighted that the Chancellor has re-addressed this issue and given further help to the vital FTB segment who are struggling to meet higher deposit requirements. This has been one of our long-standing key asks of UK Government and demonstrates the impact of our engagement with Treasury over the past 18 months.

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"With the average house price in Scotland standing at £155,615 (according to latest Registers of Scotland data) and every sale to a FTB resulting in an estimated further six transactions up the ladder, this move will have an even greater proportionate effect north of the border and help reinvigorate an industry which is so crucially important both to Scotland’s economy and social wellbeing."

Whilst also welcoming the obligations placed on state-owned banks to provide £94 billion in new business loans, Fair re-emphasised that the issue of overall mortgage availability remained the key barrier to any meaningful and sustainable recovery in the housing market.

(GK/CD)