TWO housing associations have secured £22m of funding from the Scottish Government, following the issuing of Bonds on their behalf.
The Bonds - aka IOUs - have been issued to support the work of Link and Cairn housing associations, through the ‘finance intermediary’, Allia C&C.
The whole exercise - designed to boost the associations’ provision of ‘affordable’ homes - is part of what the Scottish Government calls - here - its Charitable Bond Programme, which has been running for the last ten years since when some £482 million' worth of Bonds have been issued.
Says the Scottish Government, the Link Bond is for £16,006,385, while the Cairn one is for £6,019,085.
It’s a nine-year bond for Link and an eight-year one for Cairn. Interest rates are fixed market rates based on Government ‘gilt rates’ (with an one per cent-to-1.25 per cent margin).
Says a Scottish Government spokeperson: “The interest earned through the loans is converted to charitable donations which can then be directed by the Scottish Government to support charitable Registered Social Landlords to provide social rented homes.
“These charitable donations are used in the same way as housing grant for the provision of new social rented housing and complement delivery through the [Scottish Government’s] Affordable Housing Supply Programme.”
-
EVERYTHING you always wanted to know about land (but were afraid to ask) could well be answered by a series of six webinars over the coming weeks.
Covering the likes of land reform, land information, landowners, rights and responsibilities and communities, the webinars are being hosted by the Scottish Land Commission, with event details to be found, here.
The first webinar is on the 29th.
-
THE average property selling price across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Scottish Borders was £290,259 in July-September 2024 – 4.9 per cent higher than the same time last year.
According to the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (ESPC), properties in the region achieved 102.2 per cent of their Home Report valuation on average, down 1.2 percentage points annually.
Among other findings:
Sales volumes rose by 19.3 per cent year-on-year, while new property listings were up 13.5 per cent;
The median selling time for property was 22 days, two days slower than July-September 2023; and
22.3 per cent of properties went to a closing date.
For more details, read here.
-
A PLOT of land - with planning permission for five homes - just a few yards from a rail station with direct links to both Edinburgh and Glasgow?
Yours for offers in the region of £95,000, in the village of Carstairs, South Lanarkshire.
Read more, here.
-
OR why not a plot with planning permission for four homes, on Kirkcaldy High Street, in Fife?
Guide price: £175,000, as detailed here.
-
Image details: Leith, Edinburgh; copyright Mike Wilson