Podcast: How could your vote affect the Scottish housing market?
Key Takeaways
- There is broad political agreement that Scotland needs more homes, but parties differ widely on targets and how to achieve increased housing supply.
- First-time buyer support is a major focus, with proposals ranging from tax threshold changes and revived grant schemes to full tax abolition, reflecting strong demand for assistance.
- Property taxation is a key point of division, especially around LBTT and the Additional Dwelling Supplement, with no consensus on whether to reform, reduce, or remove them.
- Rental market policy is split between deregulation to encourage supply and stronger rent controls to protect tenants, with most parties taking more moderate middle positions.
- Across all parties, major gaps remain in detail, particularly around delivery of housing supply, planning reform, and how decarbonisation targets will be funded and implemented.
On this episode of the ESPC Property Show, Paul & Megan dissect five of the six major political parties' manifestos ahead of the upcoming Scottish election on 7th May, along with discussing the key topics affecting the current housing market and breaking down how each party proposes to tackle them.
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Key Insights
ESPC’s own housing manifesto priorities
Our own key housing priorities include increasing housing supply, reforming LBTT (potentially through a zonal system), expanding support for first-time buyers, reconsidering the Additional Dwelling Supplement, and using surcharges on overseas buyers to fund affordable housing. There’s a need to accelerate cladding remediation, ensure practical and affordable decarbonisation of homes, and introduce stronger regulation and a code of conduct for estate agents.
Universal agreement on the need for more homes
All major parties recognise a housing shortage and propose increasing supply, though targets vary significantly - from Scottish Labour’s 125,000 homes to more modest or undefined commitments from others.
Different approaches to first-time buyer support
Policies range from raising LBTT thresholds (Labour), reintroducing and expanding the First Home Fund (SNP), to abolishing LBTT altogether (Conservatives, Reform UK). Demand for support schemes is highlighted as extremely high.
Major divide on property taxation (LBTT & ADS)
Parties vary sharply… some propose abolishing LBTT (Conservatives, Reform), others reforming or increasing taxes (Greens), while SNP largely maintains current structures. Additional Dwelling Supplement is also contentious, with proposals to cut, raise, or remove it.
Rental market tensions: supply vs control
Rental market policy highlights a clear ideological divide. The Conservatives and Reform UK favour deregulation to encourage landlords and boost supply, while the Scottish Greens support stronger rent controls to protect tenants from rising costs. Scottish Labour and the SNP take a more balanced approach, focusing on targeted support like mid-market rentals and tenant purchase rights to support both renters and overall supply.
Energy efficiency and net zero lack detailed plans
All parties acknowledge the need to decarbonise housing, but there’s limited detail on implementation. Debate centres on cost, practicality, and who pays, with differing stances on measures like heat pumps and fossil fuel bans.
Planning system seen as a major bottleneck
There’s broad consensus that planning delays are restricting housebuilding. All parties propose reforms - ranging from deregulation and speeding up approvals to stricter standards and better resourcing.
Overall lack of detail and need for implementation clarity
While the manifestos contain many proposals, there is a repeated lack of detail - particularly around how policies will be delivered, funded, and balanced across competing priorities such as affordability, housing supply, and sustainability.