Shared ownership surges

Figures released to Parliament have shown a 117 per cent increase in the number of homes built and sold by housing associations. Sales of the open market homebuy product shot up by 39 per cent.

Marilyn DiCara, director of sales and marketing at Moat, put the surge down to the credit crisis. ‘People in housing need can’t afford to buy property outright [but] can still afford to buy new build products where 100 per cent mortgages are available on equality value,’ she said.

‘There has been a shift since the start of the crunch. People who previously bought new property outright without a deposit can no longer get mortgages.’

Lucy Thornycroft, policy officer at the National Housing Federation, said open market homebuy products Mychoice and Ownhome ‘offered affordable options for lots of people [and] in the current climate are the only 100 per cent mortgage available on the market’.

But Roger Clark, director of homeownership at ART Homes, warned: ‘There’s a lot of evidence that building is now stopping. The pipeline in new build products could dry up and the danger once that happens [is that] there’s less capacity in the sector. Trying to kick-start it again is difficult, so there’s definitely a risk of a downward spiral.’

Rose Crossman, sales and marketing manager at Aldwyck Housing Association, said that the surge in new build homebuy figures was from those rolled over from last year.

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