The Scottish government has now launched the Help to Buy (Scotland) Small Developers scheme, an extra £30m to bolster the scheme, which was announced last year.

The extra money is hopefully going to support as many as 170 small building developers by letting the government buy equity in the new build homes, in much the same way that the Help to Buy scheme does. The crucial difference though is that the funds are ring-fenced for the smaller developers, who may not have had much of a look in on the original Help to Buy scheme.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “So this new support of £30 million will be ring-fenced to support purchases from 170 smaller building companies that develop thousands of quality homes across the country. These are often in remote locations and keep much needed jobs and skills in rural areas, while having a positive knock on impact on the wider economy.”

The original Help to Buy funds ran out in Scotland in the first few months of becoming available, much quicker than expected.

The smaller developers are more likely to look to develop smaller sites, sites out in the country or expanding smaller settlements. This should help to spread first time buyer homes out and make them more available in more areas, and make sure that there isn’t too much focus around the cities.