Is Shared Ownership the Way Forward?

Prospective homeowners will be worried about the idea of buying their first home, as the cost-of-living crisis deepens and the squeeze on budgets tightens.

Challenges of the help-to-buy scheme coming to end

The help-to-buy scheme increased the number of first-time buyers massively – helping over 350,000 young people and families get on the property ladder.

Now though, we are facing the challenge of the scheme coming to end in March 2023 – with applications for first-timer buyers ending in October this year.

The question now is – what help will be available when the scheme ends?

The expensive obstacle of rising house prices

The current average house price nationwide is £294,845, with London prices standing at a staggering £507,000.

This means that first-time buyers will need a large deposit, usually £50,000 or above.

Although the help-to-buy scheme helped people around the country massively, it did not tackle the expensive obstacle of rising house prices and saving for majorly high deposits.

This highlights the importance of helping those who wish to buy get on the property ladder if they want to.

Shared ownership could be considered

One idea that could be considered is shared ownership.

It is already a tried and trusted method of buying a home and getting on to the property ladder  – having been around since the 1980s.

Shared ownership involves a person buying a share of the property between 10% - 75% of the home’s full market value.

The rest of the value of the property is paid in rent to the landlord or person owning the other share of the property.

This is a great idea for people who can’t afford the full costs of taking out a mortgage when buying a home.

There is also the option for ‘staircasing’ your share of the home – in which you can increase your share year on year.

The first homes scheme and the mortgage guarantee scheme

As well as the shared ownership option, there is also the first homes scheme and the mortgage guarantee scheme.

The first homes scheme allows first-time buyers to buy a home with fifty per cent off the market value.

Whereas the mortgage guarantee scheme is designed to help those people who can’t quite reach the ten per cent deposit mark but are eager to own their first home.

There are plenty of options out there

All these options mean that even though the help-to-buy scheme is ending, there are still plenty of options out there.

Especially at a time when house prices are ever-increasing, and deposits seem impossible to save for.

If you need a conveyancing specialist to take care of the legal work on your property, we work with experienced property experts who will handle all your property buying needs.

Just give us a call, request a call back or make an enquiry here.