An additional £40m is to be invested in a scheme to help people onto the housing ladder for the first time, or to move to a new property, it has been announced.

Since it's launch in September 2013, the Scottish Government's Help to Buy (Scotland) initiative has helped more than 1,100 people to buy a new home and this additional boost will take the overall investment to £275m.

The scheme helps people to buy a new-build house from a participating home builder without having to fund all of the purchase price. The buyer is required to contribute a 5% deposit, with the Scottish Government taking an equity stake of up to 20% of the value of the property. The buyer then receives the outstanding sum through a repayment mortgage from a participating lender, and repay the Scottish Government's equity stake when they can financially afford to do so. To date, a total of 156 house-builders have signed up for the initiative, with six mortgage lenders offering mortgages to buyers wanting to benefit from it.

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Welcoming the news, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "This additional £40 million funding will allow more people in Scotland to buy their first home and continue to make it easier for 'second-steppers' and others to move to a new property.

"Since it launched in September last year, our Help to Buy scheme has already helped over 1,000 households into home ownership and this additional funding will benefit even more families.

"It is also bringing much needed economic growth to Scotland by supporting our housing industry and creating employment opportunities. This is alongside our continued commitment to investing in affordable housing for communities across Scotland."

Sandy Adam, Chair of New Homes for Scotland, added: "A significant proportion of new homes are now sold through Help to Buy, delivering on the Scottish Government's key objectives of providing more homes, creating more jobs and stimulating the economy.

"Additional investment, such as that announced today, and longer term support assisting developers with investment planning will help the industry to, quite literally, build on the scheme's initial success and step up production to the levels required to meet housing need across all tenures."

(JP/MH)