If you are hoping to move this year, and your budget can stretch to £200,000, the property of your dreams may be more affordable than you thought.
How?
You will no doubt be familiar with the Scottish Government’s ‘Help to Buy (Scotland)’ initiative which, for several years now, has helped aspiring home owners, not only first time buyers, purchase a new build home by contributing up to a maximum 15% equity stake in the property.
Well, the good news is that the price cap on properties eligible for the scheme will remain at £200,000 until March 2019, despite plans to reduce it further to £175,000 at that time.
Announcing the changes, Scottish Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said, “We want to help people get on or up the housing ladder and Scotland’s Help to Buy scheme gives a helping hand to thousands of people. We want to make home ownership as accessible as possible – with a particular focus on helping people to buy affordable new-build homes. We know, however, that prices of property – and what constitutes affordable – can fluctuate massively across different parts of the country. That is why I have decided to retain the price cap on homes eligible for the scheme at £200,000 over the next two financial years. This will be important in helping people own their own home across urban, rural and small towns in Scotland.”
But what does this mean for you?
Well, maintaining the threshold at £200,000 gives house-hunters a greater choice of properties and, with it being frozen until March 2019, far more time to browse and save for a (much smaller!) deposit.
So how does it work?
‘Help to Buy’ allows people to put down a deposit of as little as 5% of the selling price, combined with a mortgage of up to 80% of the value of the property.
So you pay just 85% of the property price now, and the remaining 15% is provided by the Scottish Government equity loan. Because it’s interest-free for the term of the loan, your deposit could not only be slashed, but your mortgage repayments too.
What’s more. it’s not a shared ownership scheme – you will own 100% of your home.
And the caveats?
Well, besides the recent threshold change, the home must also be the buyer’s only residence and cannot apply to part-exchange or buy-to-let.
And what can we offer you through this scheme?
You’ll be delighted to hear that homes within some of our most sought-after developments are ‘Help to Buy’ friendly.
We are currently selling properties which fall below the new £200,000 threshold at Carnock (by Dunfermline), Pitlochry, Guildtown, Chapelton near Aberdeen and Tornagrain, located between Nairn and Inverness.
To ensure that you don’t miss out, take a look at our website, give us a call or enjoy a trip to one of our showhomes. It’s then just a case of consulting an independent financial advisor and getting the application process moving.
For more information, please contact our Sales office on (01738) 620721, email sales@stephen.co.uk
