Housing associations are making the most of cheaper land prices and snapping up development sites abandoned by private builders hit by the property slump.

Dunedin Canmore Group, an Edinburgh housing association, said it would almost treble the number of affordable homes it would build this year after buying up a string of sites at a discount rate.

The group has secured £15m in funding from Royal Bank of Scotland for its expansion; which is to be matched by the Scottish government. Ewan Fraser, the chief executive, said Dunedin Canmore was likely to complete about 300 homes a year in the next three years as a result of the bargain land acquisitions.

Sunday Times