Fund plea to help people buy first home

SCOTTISH Labour has called for a new fund to support people buying their first home, after figures exposed growing challenges in the housing market.

Statistics show the number of homes completed last summer was down by more than a fifth on 2019.

Meanwhile, the latest UK House Price Index Scotland showed house prices increasing in every council area bar two, with prices rising by an average of 6.3 per cent since

April 2020.

The Scottish Government’s existing scheme for first-time buyers, the First Home Fund, was open for only five days this year before it ran out of funds.

Scottish Labour housing spokesman Mark Griffin said: “Scotland’s housing market was reaching crisis point long before Covid hit, but the shock of the pandemic has left us with challenges of a different scale.

“A year of house price rises while building has stalled has left first-time and low-income buyers facing a perfect storm.

“Instead of helping young people get a foot on the property ladder, the SNP have pulled it out from under them by slashing support.”

He said “putting proper support in place for first-time and low-income buyers is the bare minimum we should be doing”.