Following announcements over the summer, the government is reviewing a new national model for shared ownership to make it easier for people to buy more of their own home, including allowing them to buy in 1 per cent increments.
For tenants in new housing association properties, there will be an automatic right to buy a share of their home from as little as 10 per cent, with the ability to increase that share over time, up to full ownership. The government will work with housing associations on a voluntary basis to determine what offer can be made to those in existing housing association properties, so that the new Right to Shared Ownership is extended as widely as possible. In addition to this, further measures to make all shared ownership homes more affordable have been confirmed. This involves cutting the minimum initial stake from 25 per cent to 10 per cent, giving those on lower incomes the chance to own a stake in their property.
Many people want to own their home but can’t see a route towards achieving that goal. This government is determined to help people realise that ambition and boost ownership for thousands of hard-working people up and down the country.
Owning a home is not just about the four walls around you, it’s about investing in your family, saving for the future and putting down roots in a community. These measures announced today will mean more people, including residents living in new housing association homes, are given the opportunity to get on to the housing ladder.
Now that the measures on shared ownership have been confirmed, thousands of consumers will welcome the opportunity to increase their share of ownership more easily and to simplify the process by which they can sell their homes.
Whilst we support introducing creative ways for consumers to get on to the housing ladder, the Government must be careful of the unintended consequences that any changes to Help to Buy could have on the rest of the market. In many cases these are not properties that feed into the general marketplace but into a cul de sac with no assistance to upward activity.
Image attribution: "Robert Jenrick Official MP Portrait" used under CC BY 3.0 / Cropped from original
