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Northern Ireland co-ownership housing association sees post-lockdown surge in applications
A Northern Ireland housing association dedicated to helping people into home ownership has reported a huge surge in applications since the coronavirus lockdown.
Co-Ownership, which solely provides homes for shared ownership, has received more than 1,000 applications since the housing market reopened at the end of June – the same number of households the association helped into shared ownership last year.
The organisation stopped accepting new applications in late March when ministers imposed a freeze on the housing market to stem the spread of COVID-19.
“We had an indication at that point that there was still a fair amount of pent-up demand, but what’s interesting is that the demand has exceeded what we would have expected if we hadn’t closed,” Mark Graham, chief executive of Co-Ownership, told Inside Housing.
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He said that lenders’ decisions to withdraw low-deposit mortgage products since the onset of the pandemic are believed to be behind the spike in applications.
“It’s clear a different sort of person is now coming through co-ownership.
“There are quite a lot of people who had saved 5% or 10% deposits, but those deals have now been withdrawn.
“You’ve done well to save £14,000 and if lenders now say you need to save another £14,000, that doesn’t give you a lot of options. And that, we’re fairly confident, is the explanation for the increased demand.”
Co-Ownership currently expects its number of completions this year to “far, far exceed” the figure for 2019, he added.
The organisation is funded through Financial Transactions Capital allocated by the Department for Communities over a four-year period.
It is in the first year of the current four-year funding cycle.
Mr Graham said: “Our capacity really depends on how much government funding we get. In the short-term, it’s not an immediate issue for us, but in the longer term, it really depends on what happens to the housing market.
“We’re going to be spending the money quicker than expected, so it depends what happens in six months’ time.”
He added: “If the level of demand is sustained over the next year, I’ve no doubt we’ll be having conversations with the department.
“We’re not at that stage yet but we obviously keep them up to date and they’re interested in how quickly we’re spending the money that they’ve provided.”
