LETTER: Quality homes to meet housing need

In response to Harry Shutt’s letter ‘Collapse of the property bubble’, we too considered some of our research findings to be striking, which showed that 77 per cent of would-be first time buyers in Surrey and Sussex cannot afford to buy a home outright locally.
By The Newsroom
Published 7th Jun 2014, 07:00 BST
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At Southern Housing Group we feel that shared ownership, sometimes called part-buy part-rent, is an important tenure and has a key role in assisting first time buyers into home ownership.

Sixty-three per cent of people said they weren’t aware of shared ownership and in response we are trying to raise awareness in the local area.

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Monthly combined mortgage and rental costs of £800 per month are widely accepted as affordable for an applicant with an annual salary of £35,000. These outgoings represents approximately 37 per cent of their net income.

When you consider that approximately £550 of the estimated monthly £800 spend is expected to be on mortgage payments, the shared ownership route is considerably less expensive than buying the same home outright.

As well as having an impact on monthly payments, shared ownership also alleviates the pressure of finding a large deposit, and typically for a site like Kilnwood Vale, buyers will only need to find five per cent of the share they are buying (£5,000).

People in the same situation as Jordan, who featured in our latest residents’ newsletter, have been able to get on the housing ladder, thanks to Southern Housing Group’s shared ownership homes. You can read Jordan’s story on our website: www.shgroup.org.uk/shared-owner-story

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Shared ownership is just one housing option offered by Southern Housing Group to help provide homes that meet a whole range of housing needs, which can vary significantly but includes working households, single occupancy and family homes.

As a business with social objectives, any money that we make from the sale of our homes is invested back into meeting our core objective of providing quality homes to meet local housing needs.

To find out more about shared ownership, please see our website www.shgroup.org.uk/looking-for-a-home/shared-ownership/

KAREN GILBERT

Multimedia communications account manager, Southern Housing Group, Clerkenwell Road, London EC1

Related topics:PeopleSussexSurrey