YOUNG Scots will have to wait until they are nearly 30 and earning more than £10,000 over the average wage to get their foot on the property ladder, according to research.
Figures show that while average Scottish salaries have stayed static at around £23,000 a year in the past 10 years, the typical first-time buyer’s earnings have risen from £28,685 to £33,873 over the same period.
Concerns about the plight of first-time buyers have also resurfaced as the data shows the average percentage loan advance the banks are giving has been cut from 89.25 per cent in 2007 to just 84.5 per cent.
The number of loans has remained the same with 35,400 in 2007 and the same last year although the value of mortgages has risen from £3.19 billion to £3.95bn.
READ MORE: Home ownership has collapsed among middle-income young
READ MORE: First-time buyers must pay £10,000 above asking price
Now Homes For Scotland, the umbrella body for builders has called on the Scottish Government to extend the Help to Buy scheme and increase the levels of first time buyers.
Nicola Sturgeon launched Help to Buy in 2013 in a bid to help people who were hampered by the lack of affordable mortgages and unable to pay the large deposits demanded by banks.
The initiative which provides tens of thousands of pounds to help people get on to the property ladder is set to expire at the end of March 2019 and no further plans have yet been announced.
But Karen Campbell of Homes for Scotland said that first-time buyers are the “lifeblood” of the housing market and warned that many still face a huge challenge to save for a deposit.
She added: “And this is where the new build sector can provide vital help since those eligible for the Scottish Government’s hugely successful Help to Buy scheme could purchase a new home up to £200,000 with just a five per cent deposit.”
“With the majority of Scots aspiring to own their own home and increasing housing supply the single most effective way to address affordability concerns, we hope the Scottish Government will listen to our call to extend the Help to Buy Scheme beyond 2018/19.
“Not only will this allow more people to benefit from this support, relieving pressure on other sectors, it will provide builders with the confidence and certainty they need to invest in delivering more of the homes our country needs.”
READ MORE: Housing gridlock as baby boomers stall market
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, added: “These statistics once again show Scotland’s broken housing system where young people struggle to get a home.
“At the heart of the problem is demand for homes outstripping supply.
“To tackle the problem, we need a huge injection of new properties of all tenures – but especially homes for social rent – to reduce inflationary pressures and make a fairer housing system for all.”
Well-off families are using a government scheme that provides tens of thousands of pounds to help people get on to the property ladder.
The Scottish Government has helped out thousands of buyers since it introduced its Help to Buy scheme, but figures produced last year showed that more than one in three of those were from households where earnings were more than £50,000.
Dozens of families with six-figure earnings also benefited from state aid for their new home.
Minister for Housing Kevin Stewart said: “We are on track to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes over this Parliament, and have seen almost 71,000 delivered since 2007.
"We are committed to helping struggling buyers purchase their own home through our shared equity schemes.
"Over 10,000 households have benefited from our Help to Buy programme since its introduction – two thirds of these were first time buyers and three quarters were aged 35 or under.
"The evidence also shows the scheme has had success in helping people move from social housing and from waiting lists into sustainable home ownership.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel