Industry body Homes for Scotland (HfS) has welcomed plans by the Scottish Government to extend its Help to Buy scheme.

The initiative is being extended beyond 2019 for a two-year period, with a further £100 million investment set to help up to 4,000 households purchase a new home.

Nicola Barclay, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, said the Scottish Government "clearly recognises the value and wide-ranging benefits" that the scheme provides.

"By allocating further targeted funding until 2021, it is not only extending the opportunity of home ownership to more Scots who are currently saving to buy their own home but will also provide the much-needed confidence and certainty that housebuilding companies need to continue to invest and grow their businesses in Scotland," she said.

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"This positive message is fundamental to helping us work together to increase the supply of new housing.

"It is essential to remember that, as well as being directly responsible for additional new homes being built, Help to Buy is also relieving pressure on the public sector with earlier figures showing that around five per cent of purchasers have moved from social rented housing and a further five per cent were on a social housing waiting list."

Ms Barclay concluded: "With Help to Buy providing an equity stake that is repayable to the Scottish Government, and with receipts received to date higher than projected, the scheme is already demonstrating its value as an effective housing policy driver for the delivery of new homes, enabling Scots to purchase a new-build home without the need for a large deposit, and with very little impact on the public purse."

(LM/MH)