Shared Equity Scheme | 4Homes

Date Published:: 24/06/2008

On 14 May 2008 Housing Minister Caroline Flint announced new support to help first time buyers into affordable home ownership.

The measures are a key part of the Government's priority set out in the draft legislative programme, to ensure a strong stable economy and to provide opportunities to all people to meet their aspirations.

All first time buyers with a household income of £60,000 a year or less now have the opportunity to apply to buy a share of a home, under a major expansion of the Government's Homebuy programme.

Before 14 May, the scheme was open only to key workers like nurses and teachers, social tenants, and some buyers identified as a priority regionally. But the new rules will mean that all first time buyers will have the option to apply for the Homebuy programme, for the first time. This allows buyers to purchase a share from 25 per cent of a property or to boost their purchasing power by up to 50 per cent with a shared equity mortgage

For example a household with an income of £32,000 could afford a house of £200,000, paying £760 each month - as opposed to £1,350 without the scheme.

Other measures announced to support first time buyers include:

A new initiative to enable the Housing Corporation to allocate up to £200 million of its resources to buy new properties on the open market, either to be made available for first time buyers to purchase through the HomeBuy scheme or for social rent.
The Housing Corporation and housing associations will work together to ensure new properties are purchased from developers at competitive prices.
Expanding the Open Market HomeBuy scheme so more households will be able to take advantage of a shared equity loan, to buy a new build property on the open market. Buyers will be able to identify the home they wish to purchase from a house builder and then apply for support from the homebuy scheme

Housing Minister Caroline Flint said: 'Most families aspire to get onto the housing ladder, but are being priced out of the market. We want to give them the support to help them buy an affordable home. The long term solution to the challenge of affordability is to build more homes. But in the meantime, we are doing more by giving more first time buyers the chance to boost their purchasing power and put their dream home within reach.'

Under the Homebuy programme, first time buyers have the opportunity to take advantage of either a shared equity or shared ownership product to help them buy their home.

More information about the Homebuy initiative can be found on the Communities and Local Government website.

The views represented in this article are those of the author and not of Channel 4. The purpose of the article is to provide general information only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or other advice.You should not rely on any information provided in this article and you should always seek out independent professional advice relevant to your own particular circumstances.