BARRATT Developments has said Scotland remains a key market amid strong demand for new homes within commuting distance of cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
After the housebuilding giant announced a 45 per cent surge in full-year profits, Barratt said Scotland will remain a major focus for investment over the coming year.
Noting that Barratt performed well in Scotland in the year to 30 June, Douglas McLeod, regional director for Barratt Scotland, said: “As in previous years, we’re continuing to see strong demand for new homes, particularly in and within commutable distance of Scotland’s key towns and cities.”
Mr McLeod said developments such as The Botanics in Glasgow’s West End and Ness Castle in Inverness, showed the company’s commitment to building new homes in the right places where people want to live.
Barratt is working on fifty developments across Scotland from the Borders to the Highlands and will look at the best available sites over the coming year.
However, Mr McLeod said: “While demand for new homes remains strong, more needs to be done by the Scottish Government to support and incentivise home buying in Scotland.”
Reporting an 11 per cent increase in home sales, Barratt Developments said the UK Government had provided strong support for the new build market through the Help to Buy scheme. This provides low cost funding for qualifying buyers.
On its website Barratt notes Help to Buy is available on new-build homes up to £600,000 in England and £300,000 in Wales. It says Help to Buy Equity Loan is not available in Scotland
The Scottish Government provided support for buyers under a Help to Buy scheme but demand for the main scheme outstripped supply.
In May it was announced that the 2015/16 pot of £100m had almost run out with more than 10 months of the financial year remaining.
The Scottish Government has announced a £195 million extension to the Help To Buy scheme will focus on affordable housing.
It reckons the scheme will help around 6,500 households to buy a new-build home over the next three years.
Mr McLeod said: “Without Help to Buy, potential home buyers, particularly first time buyers and young families, do not have sufficient financial support to make their first moves onto the property ladder. Even with the proposed introduction of the new scheme, until further details are available, we feel that Scotland’s housing market is at risk, which could have implications for future investment.”
Barratt is awaiting details of things like the value of homes that will be considered.
Housing minister Margaret Burgess said: “Against a challenging financial background, the Scottish Government is doing everything it can to increase supply. Over the lifetime of this Parliament, our planned investment in affordable housing will exceed £1.7 billion.”
Barratt posted pre-tax profits of £565.5m for the 12 months to the end of June, up from £390.6m the year before, helped by improving mortgage availability.
The FTSE 100 firm completed 16,447 homes including joint ventures. This marked its highest total in seven years. It completed 14,838 homes in the year to June 2014.
The group benefited from the continued surge in house prices, with its private average selling price for the year rising by 8.7 per cent to £262,500, from £241,600.
Chief executive David Thomas said: "The new financial year has started very well; we have a strong forward sales position and are making very good progress towards our full-year targets."
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