With all the doom and gloom surrounding property values, rising interest rates, setting up home for the first time has become almost a nightmare for many. Well, the good news is, things can and have just got better.

It’s all happening down in Portadown in the apple blossom county. At Maghon Park twenty new properties were assigned to a new ‘Own a Home ’ shared equity scheme. The properties with prices ranging from £145,000 will be available for purchase and the scheme is a system that will bring the properties into the reach of many people who maybe thought they would never be able to own their own home.

Here’s how it works:-

What’s more, you don’t have to worry about a deposit. Barclays are giving one hundred per cent mortgages on this scheme.

As the years go by and you find you can buy a little more of the house, then you are free to do so.

All sounds so simple. The official details released by the Department for Social Development will be available at the end of this feature.

It was February of this year that Minister Margaret Ritchie MLA launched her New Housing Agenda. This was the most radical housing initiative in a generation. In it she pledged to do everything in her power to increase social and affordable housing. This meant getting more people onto the first rung of the housing ladder.

The ‘Own a Home’ shared equity scheme reflects that commitment. What the Minister did was get the lending institutions, developers and housing associations together in an imaginative and innovative way to help the first time buyer... Not only for affordable new homes and their future owners, but for the building industry, the housing associations and the financial institutions. The added kick back, there is no cost to the public purse.

The equity from the developers, Turkingtons, provides the lower priced house, Barclays provide the access to affordable credit and the involvement of a Clanmil and South Ulster Housing Associations offers a housing management background to pull all this together in a holistic approach to affordable housing for first time buyers new to the market.

Let’s remember that this is a pilot scheme. Turkington builders/developers, Clanmil and South Ulster Housing Associations as well as Barclays Bank have made what was a dream for many, a reality. Minister’s call to others around Northern Ireland should encourage more of the same. You can have no doubt she will be in the thick of it making it happen and already North and West Housing Association have made £4 million available to help around one hundred first time buyers in the North West.

Now, with property prices falling, the doom and gloom will hopefully lift and see the housing market once again begin to move. Become more affordable. The co-ownership scheme was launched in 1978, rightly catching the interest of potential home owners. If Minister sees her vision fulfilled, ‘Own a Home’ shared equity scheme will be here to stay for a very long time and who knows, maybe we will be celebrating 30 years of success in 2038.

 

The official announcement with regard to Own a Home Scheme as released by the Department for Social Development in their press release is as follows:-

The Own A Home shared equity scheme works in the following way:

The purchaser buys a 50% stake in the property with the benefit of a mortgage charged on it, provided by a commercial lender, in this case Barclays. The developer, Turkington retains 25% for a period of up to ten years subject to it being the first party to be “staircased out” (when /if the purchaser buys further shares in the property). Clanmil Housing Association/South Ulster Housing Association buys the balancing 25% stake and rents it out to the purchaser (subject again to the purchaser’s right to staircase out). If “staircasing” is not effected within that period, Clanmil Housing Association/South Ulster Housing Association buys Turkingtons out at the then market value. Where values have declined below historic cost, Turkingtons may elect to retain the property, but subject to creating an additional “rent” as its return for the continued occupation of its share by the purchaser. The purchaser can, at a future date buy a further share in the property from Turkingtons/Clanmil/South Ulster and become owners outright. Alternatively if they wish to move, they are able to sell their share on the open market.