Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT)
Since 2007, our Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) shared equity schemes have helped over 12,000 people to buy a home.
There are two LIFT schemes:
- the Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme helps people buy a home – within certain price thresholds – for sale on the open market
- the New Supply Shared Equity scheme (NSSE), which helps people buy a new-build home from a council or housing association. Although buyers will own the property outright, our interests will be covered by a standard security on their property
Guidance for buyers
We published guidance for buyers on the Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) Scheme in September 2025. This includes a section on how to apply.
Guidance for registered social landlords, councils and property professionals:
- New Supply Shared Equity scheme: administrative procedures for registered social landlords (June 2023)
- Open Market Shared Equity scheme: administrative procedures (September 2025)
- After-sale shared equity procedures: guidance (August 2022)
Read more
More information for first-time buyers is available on the mygov.scot website:
Monitoring information
We previously collected information to monitor the Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme. Data collected from sales log forms is used to summarise the characteristics of households purchasing homes through the scheme. These following data are not Official Statistics or National Statistics and they have been collated by Scottish Government as management information for the purposes of policy monitoring only.