Give us a break

There is massive interest in affordable homeownership and renting in the UK. This might sound like a statement of the obvious, but bear with me.

This interest was out in force at a recent event in London organised by Metropolitan Home Ownership and London & Quadrant, where 4,200 people came through the doors in just four hours. When you combine this with the 70,000 potential customers on our database and customer forums, you begin to see what I mean.

As with most housing associations in the intermediate market, MHO enjoys a close working relationship with mortgage lenders. It is disappointing, then, to see the reticence towards intermediate housing expressed by the banks’ representative body the Council of Mortgage Lenders (Inside Housing, 19 February).

The feedback we receive from our customers tells us that this is a vibrant and valuable new market that we need to support.

They tell us they are in low or moderately paid work and that intermediate housing is one of the few options they have of getting a decent home.

As a result, they accept that the days of simply buying a home with a large mortgage are over, so the idea of buying with a bit of debt, a bit of equity and a bit of their own cash is okay and seems ever more mainstream. They say they know MHO and other providers have different pricing schemes but so do people selling mobile phones and low-cost flights and they can get their heads round it.

In short, our customers are not just a pool of aspiration or interest but a pool of real demand. We need to get thinking across all sectors about how to meet their expectations.

Graeme Moran is managing director of Metropolitan Home Ownership