Somerset

Shared Ownership

Shared ownership homes offer a low cost way to get on the home ownership ladder. Shared ownership makes housing affordable.

Shared ownership housing: three key things to know:

1. Shared-ownership makes home ownership more affordable because you part buy and part rent your home
2. Homebuy is the Government's range of shared ownership housing schemes
3. Shared Ownership and Homebuy schemes are managed locally by Housing Association 'Agents'.

To find out about shared-ownership in Somerset, or to apply for shared-ownership, click on the link below.

www.southwesthomes.org.uk

Who can buy shared ownership housing?
Shared ownership housing schemes are usually intended for people who cannot afford to buy a suitable home in any other way. Applicants must usually be in housing need and be unable to afford outright purchase. Priority will often be given to people on local authority or housing association waiting lists.

What is shared ownership housing?
Shared-ownership is a great way into home ownership. If you can't afford to buy outright, you can part buy and part rent your home. The monthly cost of buying a 50% share is about two-thirds of what you would pay on a mortgage if you bought the property outright. When you can afford to do so, you can buy more shares until you own your home outright.

Housing Associations and shared ownership housing
The other share in the property is usually owned by a housing association. If you are interested in buying low cost affordable shared-ownership housing, you will need to contact the local Homebuy Agent or contact directly a housing association in your area that provides shared ownership homes.
This website, www.shared-ownership.org.uk provides the most comprehensive listing of housing associations that provide shared ownership housing. The Government has recently introduced new types of shared ownership housing called HOMEBUY.

There are three types of Homebuy scheme:
New Build Homebuy, where you share part of the ownership of your home with a housing association; 
Open Market Homebuy, where you part-buy a property and get a loan from the Government for the rest; and 
Social Homebuy, where housing association and local authority tenants are helped to buy their current home.

To find out more about Homebuy click visit this website www.homebuy.co.uk.

Some shared ownership vacancies will be advertised on this site - please check the property search area for more details.