Current status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 1 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are estimated to have subprime mortgages, broken down by local authority area.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) defines sub-prime mortgages as those targeted at consumers with impaired or low credit ratings who may find it difficult to obtain finance from traditional sources.
Data are available for those with impaired credit ratings but not for those with low credit ratings. For Scotland as a whole, in the period April 2005 to June 2008, the FSA found that 21,130 mortgages arranged in Scotland were in cases where the main, second or other borrower had an impaired credit history. This represents 3.4% of the total number of mortgages (630,334) issued in Scotland over this period.
Similar figures have been calculated for local authority areas. The proportion of mortgages to borrowers with impaired credit histories ranges from 1.4% (in Shetland) to 4.4% (in North Lanarkshire).
| Local Authority | Not Impaired | Impaired Credit History | Total | Impaired (as % of Total) |
| Aberdeen City | 26,441 | 712 | 27,153 | 2.6% |
| Aberdeenshire | 25,361 | 686 | 26,047 | 2.6% |
| Angus | 11,838 | 377 | 12,215 | 3.1% |
| Argyll and Bute | 10,999 | 395 | 11,394 | 3.5% |
| Clackmannanshire | 6,405 | 239 | 6,644 | 3.6% |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 12,307 | 410 | 12,717 | 3.2% |
| Dundee City | 16,477 | 526 | 17,002 | 3.1% |
| East Ayrshire | 13,549 | 615 | 14,163 | 4.3% |
| East Dunbartonshire | 10,882 | 394 | 11,276 | 3.5% |
| East Lothian | 12,209 | 340 | 12,549 | 2.7% |
| East Renfrewshire | 9,112 | 330 | 9,441 | 3.5% |
| City of Edinburgh | 65,991 | 1,840 | 67,831 | 2.7% |
| Eilean Siar | 1,674 | 35 | 1,709 | 2.0% |
| Falkirk | 19,246 | 697 | 19,943 | 3.5% |
| Fife | 44,151 | 1,743 | 45,894 | 3.8% |
| Glasgow City | 74,447 | 2,694 | 77,141 | 3.5% |
| Highland | 22,342 | 623 | 22,965 | 2.7% |
| Inverclyde | 9,020 | 323 | 9,343 | 3.5% |
| Midlothian | 9,791 | 273 | 10,064 | 2.7% |
| Moray | 9,345 | 260 | 9,605 | 2.7% |
| North Ayrshire | 16,184 | 732 | 16,916 | 4.3% |
| North Lanarkshire | 39,309 | 1,791 | 41,101 | 4.4% |
| Orkney Islands | 1,419 | 35 | 1,454 | 2.4% |
| Perth and Kinross | 14,616 | 423 | 15,039 | 2.8% |
| Renfrewshire | 19,360 | 693 | 20,053 | 3.5% |
| Scottish Borders | 13,134 | 394 | 13,528 | 2.9% |
| Shetland | 1,508 | 22 | 1,530 | 1.4% |
| South Ayrshire | 13,216 | 600 | 13,816 | 4.3% |
| South Lanarkshire | 36,685 | 1,563 | 38,248 | 4.1% |
| Stirling | 10,592 | 393 | 10,985 | 3.6% |
| West Dunbartonshire | 10,980 | 397 | 11,378 | 3.5% |
| West Lothian | 20,613 | 577 | 21,190 | 2.7% |
| Scotland | 609,204 | 21,130 | 630,334 | 3.4% |
Source: FSA Product Sales Data, available at postcode area level for number of regulated mortgages (including remortgages) advanced on properties in Scotland from April 2005 to June 2008. Approximate mapping to local authority level done by Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government would discourage borrowers from taking on unsustainable mortgage commitments and to seek help from their lender if they are having trouble repaying their mortgage.