It is no secret that there currently seems to be a development creeping in every corner of our back garden – from Southend Seafront, to Maylons Farm in Hullbridge; Hall Road in Rochford, to Rawreth Lane in Rayleigh. There are literally thousands of homes going up as I write this.
There is a ton of negatives to these developments, but there is a positive which may have been overlooked. One of these positives is the amount of shared ownership properties which are going to be available.
So what is shared ownership? Simply put, instead of buying a property at the full market value, you buy a percentage of the property i.e. 25-75% with a housing association owning the remaining share. Then, you pay rent on the remaining share.
The benefits of this is for those who simply cannot afford the inflated prices of the new homes, but instead, making them more affordable for those with lower incomes, giving them an opportunity to get on the property ladder.
There is a massive shortage of this type of housing within our district, which means those people who cannot afford the properties are being forced to rent, causing them to be a prisoner of paying someone else’s mortgage. With rent so high, being able to save at the same time is near impossible.
Only this morning I discovered one of these developments are going to have 1, 2 and 3 bedroom flats, and 2, 3 and 4 bedroom terraced, semi and detached houses. Meaning, a massive boost to the much in demand shared ownership market in our part of Essex, allowing a huge amount of families to get that foot on a ladder which may only be a dream at this point.
