Raeside Chisholm Solicitors Blog

Plans by landlords to sell their properties could lead to a sharp increase in the number of homes suitable for first-time buyers coming onto the market. 

The number of remortgages taken out by homeowners in Scotland reached 8,700 in the first quarter of this year, which is a 6.1% increase over the same period last year, new figures from UK Finance have revealed. The £1.07bn of remortgaging in the first quarter was 9.2% more year-on-year. 

New research by Bank of Scotland has revealed that homeowners in Scotland pay a fifth (20%) of their disposable income towards their mortgage each month. This proportion has almost halved compared to 2007. 

The latest UK Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has revealed that housing market activity in Scotland was generally flat in February, as a shortage of properties becoming available for sale continued to result in an increasing number of potential new buyers being thwarted. 

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on first-time buyer relief from Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), which it previously announced in the draft Scottish Budget 2018/19.