The Scottish Government's Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme has now given support to over 8000 households across the country, social justice secretary Alex Neil has announced.

More than £500m has been invested to help first time buyers and existing home owners purchase a new home since 2013 under the scheme, which runs until mid-April.

The Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordable Home Ownership scheme, currently open for applications, will replace the current programme and will run until 2019.

The successor scheme will have a stronger focus on affordable new build homes and will include on-going support for smaller property developers.

Over the six-year period up to 15,000 households across Scotland are expected to be supported, with the Government hoping that the scheme will provide a boost for the construction sector.

Announcing the latest figures, Mr Neil said: “With 8,000 households now helped to buy their own home and with the new scheme expected to support up to 7,500 more individuals and families to own a new home over the next three years, Help to Buy (Scotland) is making a real difference to people in Scotland.

“By targeting our resources at affordable homes our new scheme is tackling inequalities and widening access to home ownership, plus providing the private sector and construction industry with a huge boost.

“We are also supporting people on low to moderate incomes with £80m allocated to our popular Open Market Shared Equity Scheme (OMSE) to help up to 2,000 first time buyers.”

The maximum value of properties included in the scheme will decrease incrementally each year, with prospective buyers choosing a new build home from a list of participating home builders.

Support is available on homes up to a maximum value of £230,000 for purchases completed on or before March 31, 2017.

For transactions completed on of before March 31, 2018, the maximum support is £200,000 while £175,000 will be made available for purchases completed by March 31, 2019.