House building needs to be stimulated in order to bring down the inflating prices of houses and match the demand. This is what Mark Clare, head of building giant Barratt Developments said that is what the firm wants to do, but the lack of funding could put builders off and stunt supply even more.

It was recently announced that there would be a price cap on homes eligible for the Help to Buy scheme, stopping first time buyers using the scheme on houses more than £250,000, after the scheme ran out of funding for 2014 very early on in the year.

Mr Clare has said he was disappointed that the Scottish government did not decide to add more money to the scheme, which would enable them to build even more homes.

“We will just have to carry on, on the basis that we have limited funds for Help to Buy in Scotland, and that will obviously affect, in a way, our investment and the ability of our customers to buy,” he said. “We’re feeling very good about Scotland, it’s a good place to invest and we’re keen to continue to do so,” he added.

In regards to the change in tax that is going to occur in Scotland next April, replacing Stamp Duty Land Tax with a Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, Mr Clare was apparently positive. The change should make it cheaper for first time buyers to get onto the property ladder, stimulating the building market further, but the slack has to be picked up by those who are looking to purchase homes in a higher price bracket.

Unless the government do add more to the budget, then Help to Buy will continue to help people next year, but it may not stimulate the building market as much as it could.