Royal Bank of Scotland goes on the offensive in its homeland
It has been reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland will be offering Scottish homebuyers mortgage incentives in the region £1.7 billion to help them acquire homes during 2009. This additional funding consists of a £500 million payment from the Treasury's asset protection scheme and other government support measures which have been introduced over the last few weeks. The move is sure to catch the eye of first-time buyers in Scotland where the market has remained frozen for some time and liquidity levels dangerously low.
Slowly but surely we are seeing signs that the Royal Bank of Scotland, greatly assisted by the UK taxpayer, is now starting to pump new money back into the UK property market. There has been particular criticism of the company north of the border and the £1.7 billion of mortgage incentives is sure to reduce the level of criticism seen of late. It will be interested to see what kind of incentive scheme is introduced south of the border where markets are as bad if not worse.
Whether this is the first sign that UK government controlled banks are starting to pump substantial money back into the economy remains to be seen but thankfully there is movement on the finance front which should in due course help the UK economy as a whole.
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