Thinking of buying a property - SmartShare has thousands of properties to buy or rent across the UK
Affordable homes for everyone
Thinking of buying a property - SmartShare has thousands of properties to buy or rent across the UK
Are you currently renting?
Are you thinking about buying a property?
Do you think renting is cheaper than buying a property?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions then think about this:
Have you considered looking at a ‘part buy part rent’ (also known as a ‘shared ownership’ or ‘low cost’) home?
‘Part buy part rent’ homes are available to a wide range of people e.g. first time buyers, previous home owners who are unable to afford to buy with supplementary help (e.g. divorce, bereavement), key workers (e.g. nurse, police officer). As long as the household income is less than £60,000 and does not own another property then you could be eligible.
Whether you are looking to buy or rent a one bedroom apartment up to a five bedroom family home go to:
SmartShare - the largest property website of affordable homes from many of the leading housing associations in the UK - we have thousands of properties available for you to view at a touch of button.
A combination of rising house prices and the recession has crushed the prospect of many young people getting onto the property ladder for the foreseeable future.
For those already living at home it is inevitable that they will stay for a longer period of time putting the burden on their parents to support them whilst they save their earnings for a deposit. This is substantiated by a survey released by housing charity Shelter this week who reports more than one in five young people are still living with their parents and around 22% of 18 – 34 year olds still live in the family home with 45% claiming they do so because they cannot afford to move out due to high costs.
The prospect of rising house prices will bring a ray of sunshine to existing homeowners but this potentially means that first time buyers and low income workers who are already scrimping and saving for an average mortgage deposit of 20% will have to save an even larger sum.
For example:
If a person bought a £200,000 home, they would need to accumulate £40,000 (20% deposit)
If house prices rise by 6% by the end of the year it will mean that the house value will increase to £212,000 and the 20% deposit will increase to £42,400.
For prospective new homebuyers who are finding it difficult to raise a large deposit there is an alternative to be considered - Part buy part rent is available for a wide range of people whose household income is under £60,000. Although the average percentage deposit of 20% is still the same, it is based on the share purchased.
For example:
If a person bought a 25% share of a £200,000 home, they would only need to secure a £50,000 mortgage.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has boldly predicted that house prices will rise by 6% in 2010 due to the improved levels of mortgage lending and expects house prices to be around 20% higher than they are today by the end of 2013.
The forecasts are based on the current 60,000 mortgage approvals per month and are predicted to increase to around 72,000 pm by the end of 2010 and a further 90,000 pm by 2013.
If you are thinking of buying or renting a shared ownership home from your local housing association, you may be interested to learn that the official 2009 customer satisfaction survey results are available for you to view.
400 UK housing associations took part in the official customer satisfaction survey commissioned by the National Housing Federation. Questions ranging from landlord services, views, repairs and maintenance, quality of new build homes, overall service were answered by tenants.
The new surveys means that social landlords can now consistently compare their residents’ satisfaction with the services they are receiving, as well as produce the performance indicators required by the Tenants Services Authority and Communities and Local Government. There will also be a mini-survey in Spring 2010.