CML Scotland particularly commends the "holistic" view that the Scottish Executive is taking of the housing market, recognising the contribution of the private sector and actively seeking ways for private and public sectors to work together to meet Scotland's housing needs.
The shared ownership pilot in Inverness is of particular interest, and lenders look forward to being actively involved in providing mortgage finance for this and other parts of the programme.
Lenders will also await with interest the review of low-cost home-ownership (LCHO) options that will feed into the forthcoming spending review. One mistake to avoid from the English market, the CML believes, is to create a plethora of too many small, fragmented initiatives. In England, such an approach has made it difficult for both consumers and lenders to evaluate the relative merits of different schemes and has created an unhelpful level of confusion. Fewer schemes, on a larger scale, will tend to create a more effective framework for the support of LCHO.
Chairman of CML Scotland Graham Waddell commented:
"Today's announcement brings a welcome breath of innovation to the emerging signs of affordability constraints in some of Scotland's "hotspots". While we are fortunate to have a market that has been more stable and less pressured than England, it is right to take steps to ensure the market is responsive to the emerging problem of constrained affordability within the private sector."
