Vida Homeloans and Mansfield Building Society have both announced plans to support first-time buyers who are utilising Scotland’s first home fund initiative.

The scheme provides FTBs with a deposit of up to £25,000 to help them purchase a property, providing the customer puts in at least 5 per cent from their own funds.

The First Home Fund is available for existing homes and will help up to 6,000 FTBs step onto the property ladder and secure their first home, according to Vida Homeloans.

Vida Homeloans managing director mortgages Louisa Sedgwick says: “With house prices continuing to rise over the years and mainstream lending criteria becoming more stringent, purchasing a first home can seem like an impossible task for many. Specialist lenders can tackle this issue head-on, however, even for customers with a complex financial situation.

“Scotland’s First Home Fund scheme will allow even more people to own a home. With affordable rates; innovative, out-of-the-box thinking, and diverse product choices, specialist lenders have a key role to play in supporting the UK’s FTB mortgage market.”

Mansfield Building Society national development manager Paul Lewis adds: “I have no doubt that the Scotland First Home Fund will prove incredibly popular with first time buyers, especially as the scheme appears generous and straightforward.

“The scheme provides access to mortgage product pricing that would ordinarily be more expensive for many first-time buyers because they would have to borrow at much higher LTVs.

“We are really excited because we can see how the scheme will complement our pragmatic underwriting approach and flexible criteria, this will provide real benefit to many aspiring homeowners and we expect the scheme to be well received”.