Budget housing announcements response
We welcome the clear-cut push to increase housing stock, but would have liked Mr Hammond to have acknowledged that variety is as much a problem as volume for the sector.
A timely boost from Halifax
Any positive move by the UK’s biggest mortgage lender brings confidence to the market, so Halifax’s announcement that it is increasing its loan-to-value threshold for shared ownership mortgages is a timely boost.
Our comment on the launch of Virgin Money shared ownership mortgages
The cost of the average home has gone up by nearly five per cent in the past 12 months while salaries increased by only two. Affordability is a long-term issue and ‘traditional’ ownership is becoming unrealistic for increasing numbers of people.
Home ownership schemes 'beyond reach' of low earners
A new charter will give us what’s needed to help grow the shared ownership market
The housing shortage is at the forefront of public consciousness. Rising rents and capital values, within the context of fairly static wage growth, have left a huge cross-section of society with limited opportunities to own their own homes. With the affordability of housing for those even on above-average incomes now a national crisis, the recent shift in policy focus away from traditional ownership, has been broadly welcomed by the sector.
Shared Ownership is a viable third way
Rapidly increasing house prices, static wage growth and climbing rents are making it incredibly difficult for a young buyer to save for a deposit - especially as the average house price now stands at £218,000
A view on CIH’s shared ownership 2.1 report
We’re keen for shared ownership to be seen as a solution to the housing crisis and the industry is making strides to ensure shared ownership works for the broadest range of people that it’s designed for.
A view on today's white paper
The white paper includes some very encouraging proposals and we’re pleased to see the government widen out the starter homes policy to include shared ownership, which should encourage more developers to build more homes for this crucial tenure.