A new scheme, designed to help small and medium-sized housebuilders has been launched.

The £30m Help to Buy (Scotland) Small Developers scheme will allow people to purchase new homes from small and medium sized housebuilders. Created by the Scottish Government, the initiative will spread support more widely across the housebuilding industry by helping buyers who want a new property built by one of around 170 smaller developers.

Under Help to Buy (Scotland), the Scottish Government takes an equity stake of between 10% and 20% of the value of the property which can be repaid at any time. In the last 15 months, 4,100 homes have been bought through Help To Buy (Scotland), and it is understood that this additional funding will help a further 750 homebuyers.

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With regards to the scheme, housebuilders will have to register.

Welcoming the announcement, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "The Scottish Government is supporting the housebuilding industry and Help to Buy (Scotland) is one of the creative ways we are stimulating new development, opening up the market to thousands of house buyers.

"Over 4,100 homes have been bought in the last 15 months, many from larger builders, with smaller and medium-sized developers seeing a smaller share of sales.

"So this new support of £30 million will be ringfenced to support purchases from 170 smaller building companies that develop thousands of quality homes across the country. These are often in remote locations and keep much needed jobs and skills in rural areas, while having a positive knock on impact on the wider economy."

Philip Hogg, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, added: "The additional funding announced today is warmly welcomed and we continue to work closely with the Scottish Government to help address the challenges associated with planning and accessing development finance which also particularly impact smaller builders."

(JP/CD)