East Thames highlights affordable housing

East Thames explained that opportunities such as New Build HomeBuy – formerly shared ownership – were unknown to 60 per cent of renters.

Such schemes allow borrowers to part-buy, part-rent, giving them the opportunity to buy a share of a property rather than the whole thing. They then pay a subsidised rent on the remaining portion and have the opportunity to ‘staircase’, or buy more equity as they can afford it.

The survey discovered that one-in-four people believed the opportunity to buy a home in stages was for key workers only; one-in-eight believed it was for people who had had their homes repossessed in the past and one-in-10 believed it was purely for unemployed people.

Kate Worley, head of sales and lettings at East Homes, part of the East Thames Group, commented: “Our survey showed that too few people understood what shared ownership meant or didn’t realise it is available to a wider selection of people than they thought. If someone has a regular income but can’t afford to buy a home with a mortgage, then HomeBuy could be for them. Getting the message out is partly where the intermediary comes in.”

However, Peter Brodnicki, chief executive at the Mortgage Advice Bureau, disagreed. “Brokers respond to clients who are already considering buying a home. People do need to be more aware of the options available, but intermediaries will not have access to those not already considering buying.”