Time to promote sharing values

The past year has shown like never before the value of a good-quality, affordable and secure home. At MTVH, we are proud to provide a range of homes – from homes for social rent and extra-care communities that help people live independently, to homes for our key worker heroes and shared-ownership homes that help people achieve their dream of getting on the housing ladder. The breadth of our offer means we see how the housing crisis affects people and this motivates us to find solutions.

The role that shared ownership can play in tackling a key aspect of the housing crisis – access to home ownership – has never been more critical. On the surface, reports of a boom in personal savings during lockdown hopefully mean buying a home is more achievable. However, data from Halifax shows first-time buyers now need an average deposit of £59,000 – £12,000 more than a year ago.

When we also consider that the increase in household savings is extremely unevenly distributed, with research showing that low-income households are more likely to have run down savings and increased debt since the start of the pandemic, the path to home ownership has actually narrowed for many people over the past year, including many of our customers.

Working with the University of Cambridge, we recently published research into the shared ownership market, which reveals that not only is delivery growing (the latest data shows a 7.8% rise in the number of shared ownership homes between 2019 and 2020), but also that demand for shared ownership has quadrupled since 2015/16. In some places, demand exceeds supply by up to 10 to one.

Our research, which involved speaking with industry experts, found that the most immediate impact of the pandemic had been an increase in demand for shared ownership lending and in enquiries about buying a shared ownership home. For me, this is an open invitation for providers to deliver more homes for this popular tenure.

One of the reasons we are so passionate about shared ownership is that it works for people who otherwise would not be able to afford to buy a home, such as single adults without children, who make up 50% of shared ownership deals, according to our research. Not only does the scheme give those on a single income a fair chance at home ownership, but the deposit is far lower, at around £24,600 on average, and can be as low as the equivalent cost of a few months’ private rent.

As we look to deliver a recovery that creates a fairer society, boosting the availability of routes to home ownership such as shared ownership must be at the forefront of our thinking.

As the country begins to emerge from the latest lockdown and the awe-inspiring efforts to roll out the vaccine continue, I feel a sense of optimism returning. For me, that hopefulness has ignited a renewed commitment to tackling one of the biggest challenges society faces: the housing crisis.

The past year has shown like never before the value of a good-quality, affordable and secure home. At MTVH, we are proud to provide a range of homes – from homes for social rent and extra-care communities that help people live independently, to homes for our key worker heroes and shared-ownership homes that help people achieve their dream of getting on the housing ladder. The breadth of our offer means we see how the housing crisis affects people and this motivates us to find solutions.

The role that shared ownership can play in tackling a key aspect of the housing crisis – access to home ownership – has never been more critical. On the surface, reports of a boom in personal savings during lockdown hopefully mean buying a home is more achievable. However, data from Halifax shows first-time buyers now need an average deposit of £59,000 – £12,000 more than a year ago.

When we also consider that the increase in household savings is extremely unevenly distributed, with research showing that low-income households are more likely to have run down savings and increased debt since the start of the pandemic, the path to home ownership has actually narrowed for many people over the past year, including many of our customers.

Working with the University of Cambridge, we recently published research into the shared ownership market, which reveals that not only is delivery growing (the latest data shows a 7.8% rise in the number of shared ownership homes between 2019 and 2020), but also that demand for shared ownership has quadrupled since 2015/16. In some places, demand exceeds supply by up to 10 to one.

Our research, which involved speaking with industry experts, found that the most immediate impact of the pandemic had been an increase in demand for shared ownership lending and in enquiries about buying a shared ownership home. For me, this is an open invitation for providers to deliver more homes for this popular tenure.

One of the reasons we are so passionate about shared ownership is that it works for people who otherwise would not be able to afford to buy a home, such as single adults without children, who make up 50% of shared ownership deals, according to our research. Not only does the scheme give those on a single income a fair chance at home ownership, but the deposit is far lower, at around £24,600 on average, and can be as low as the equivalent cost of a few months’ private rent.

As we look to deliver a recovery that creates a fairer society, boosting the availability of routes to home ownership such as shared ownership must be at the forefront of our thinking.

Geeta Nanda is chief executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley (MTVH)