Scotland may escape the chancellor’s latest bombshell for buy-to-let and second home investors – a three per cent surcharge on stamp duty.

But the Scottish Government will come under pressure from the chancellor’s pledge to double the housing budget and launch a new Help to Buy scheme in England.

The chancellor said money raised from higher stamp duty on people buying their second home would be used to help those struggling to buy their first home, with a new Help to But shared ownership scheme for England.

Osborne said: “Frankly, people buying a home to let should not be squeezing out families who cannot afford a home to buy.”

It comes on top of the scrapping of mortgage tax relief for buy-to-let mortgages, to be phased in over four years from April 2017, which has been predicted to wipe out the profits of many investors.

However stamp duty no longer applies in Scotland. Martin Bell, tax partner at BDO, said: “investors in Scottish property will need to wait for the Scottish Budget on 16 December to see if John Swinney follows suit with any increases in the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax.”

Mr Swinney may or not be aware that, according to recent reports, one third of the new intake of SNP Members of Parliament are buy-to-let landlords.

The Scottish Government has only just unveiled a proposed overhaul of the private rented sector, after much lobbying by the Scottish Association of Landlords against a rent cap and other restrictions which it says “could harm investor confidence and drive landlords out of the market, leaving a vacuum that could be filled with less than scrupulous individuals”.

But given that the future of the sector is already under consultation in Scotland, it may well be that buy-to-let landlords in Scotland end up in a better position than those in the rest of the UK, especially if Mr Swinney can portray the Osborne tax as one that would drive up rents.

David Cox, managing director of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, said it was “catastrophic news” for the sector South of the Border. “To make owning a BTL property financially viable, landlords will need to pass on the increased stamp-duty costs to tenants, who will in turn see less spent on maintaining their property and of course see increased rents. The changes will also deter new landlords from entering the market.”

But on the chancellor’s boost for housing in England, Philip Hogg, chief executive of trade body Homes for Scotland , called on the Scottish Government to “ place equal emphasis on having enough homes of all tenures in the right places to meet the diverse housing needs and aspirations of all those living in Scotland”.

He added: “The chancellor has also maintained his commitment to the successful Help to Buy scheme to 2021 and introduced a new tailored version specifically for London. This is in marked contrast to the position here where the announced successor to the Scottish Government’s scheme faces budget reductions of up to 50per cent and will likely be less accessible to buyers.”

Meanwhile new homebuyers in Scotland, as well as the rest of the UK, can boost their savings with up to £3000 of free government cash from the Help to Buy Isa which launches on Tuesday.

Distinct from the Scottish Government’s Help to Buy shared equity scheme, which ran out of cash last May a few weeks after opening, the Help to Buy Isa is available from savings providers to any individual saving for a deposit.

KevinWhite at financial planners deVere Group explains: “First-time buyers can save up to £200 per month and the government will add 25 per cent on top of the savings. Savers need to save at least £1,600 to get the minimum bonus of £400. The most savers will receive the bonus on is £12,000, meaning £3,000 for five years of saving.

“In effect, it is free cash from the government and anyone who is aspiring to buy their first home would be mad not to do this.”

David Smith, director of financial planning at Tilney Bestinvest says: “Interestingly, it is one Isa per individual, not per home meaning couples can double up their allowance. It will be available to open for four years and the bonus will be payable via a solicitor at the point of house purchase, whenever this may be. If you don’t buy a house, you don’t get the bonus.”

The maximum value of the home being bought is £250,000, and Help to Buy Isas will be on offer from Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Santander, Nationwide, Virgin Money and Barclays. Nationwide said yesterday it would pay two per cent on its account plus cashback of up to £1750 on a mortgage deal.

You don’t have to stick with the same product throughout the lifetime of the scheme and could transfer out to a different provider. You can only pay into one cash Isa or Hisa per year but you could, in theory at any rate, also pay the maximum into a stocks and shares Isa in the same year.