Question reference: S6W-19927
- Date lodged: 12 July 2023
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Current status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 1 August 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to young, single, professional people in order to help them access the housing market for the first time, and what assessment it has made of any impact of recent mortgage rate rises on young single people in Scotland who are trying to access the housing market.
Answer
We continue to support home ownership and have interventions in place to help first time buyers through our Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) scheme which helps people on low to moderate incomes to buy their first home.
Our first-time buyer relief for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax has the effect of raising the nil-rate threshold from £145,000 to £175,000, saving first-time buyers up to £600.
No formal assessment has been carried out on the impact of increased mortgage rates on First Time Buyers (FTB’s), however we are aware that an increase in mortgage rates will make it more difficult for many FTB’s to obtain mortgage lending or in fact access it due to a decreased number of products available.