Since restarting its build programme and opening its marketing suites, the housebuilder said it has experienced a surge in prospective buyer enquiries.

Commenting on the successful restart, Avant Homes Scotland regional director, Andrew Gawthorpe, said: “As soon as we closed down our build and sales operations, we began planning a safe way to return to work once it was encouraged by the UK Government.

“This enabled us to restart our build programme at pace, closely followed by our sales operation. We experienced an immediate and significant surge in demand from prospective buyers wanting to view our homes, which is still ongoing. This is testimony to both our product and the great work done by our people to respond to the situation created by COVID-19.

“Our customer appointment system is working well to meet the high levels of demand and our sales teams are fully trained to provide safe showhome and site viewing experiences. We look forward to welcoming many more people to our developments as we continue to steadily increase activity across all our sites.”

The housebuilder’s current developments under construction in Scotland stretch from Bishopton to Dunbar, and when complete will deliver a total of over 3,000 new homes combined.

Sales momentum is expected to increase even further over the coming months following the government announcement to raise the threshold for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in Scotland to £250,000 from £145,000.

Commenting on the changes, Mr Gawthorpe said: “The announcement is fantastic news for those looking for a new home. The impact of COVID-19 has created many challenges for both developers and homebuyers and not only does this mean buyers can make significant savings on purchasing a home, but it also acts as a catalyst to boost the housing market.

“We very much welcome the changes and anticipate that buyers will jump at the opportunity to take advantage of the increased threshold.”