HOUSE-BUILDING was at the heart of George Osborne's budget speech but analysts said it remains to be seen how measures will impact on Scotland.

The Chancellor's measures included the provision of £150m to help self-builders in a "right to build" scheme, and £500m for small house building firms.

It was part of the Chancellor' plans to support the construction of 200,000 homes as he said "we're getting Britain building".

There was an extension of the Help to Buy equity loan scheme in England for the rest of the decade, to help an estimated 120,000 more households. The scheme allows buyers to secure a 20% government-backed loan on the cost of a new house.

The Scottish Government unveiled its version of the equity loan scheme in September.

The £220m scheme will run until September 2016 and is open to first-time and existing buyers looking for a new-build home.

Simon Brown, partner and head of residential property at CKD Galbraith said: "The Budget statement has outlined a number of positive steps to help strengthen the UK property market including the extension of the help to buy scheme in England until 2020.

"The market in Scotland has witnessed tangible improvements as a result of the Scottish help to buy scheme assisting first time buyers and consequently helping to revitalise segments of the market further up the ladder.

"It will be interesting to see what may happen in terms of the Scottish scheme which is currently in place until 2016, on the back of today's announcement."

The government also attempted to cut down on stamp duty tax avoided through company-owned homes by expanding its 15% rate from residential properties worth over £2m to those worth more than £500,000.

Mr Brown added: "As a firm we have experienced a steady improvement in the Scottish property market since 2013, a growth which has continued this year however we do expect a slight slowdown in the run up to the Scottish independence referendum.

"We welcome the announcement as real encouragement for the growth of the UK property market and subsequently the Scottish market going forward after the referendum."

The annual rise in house prices across the UK is expected to peak at more than 9% this year, prompting George Osborne to task the Bank of England's financial stability watchdog with being "particularly vigilant" about the risk of a bubble developing.

It's a different story in Scotland, and figures from Home.co.uk show that while asking prices in England and Wales were up 7.9% year on year, there was still no sign of a market recovery in Scotland where prices fell 0.3% last month and 1.4% over the last year.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that "much more needs to be done" and criticised Mr Osborne for not deciding to offer help to struggling home buyers through changes to stamp duty.

It expected house price growth to peak at 9.3% in the third quarter of this year.

Mr Osborne told MPs he had asked the Bank's Financial Policy Committee to keep a close eye on the housing market.