Shared ownership pilot scheme
Southern Housing Group has partnered with the Greater London Authority to establish ‘Second Steps’, a service which offers current shared owners who can’t afford to buy outright the chance to purchase a home on the open market on a shared ownership basis.
According to a report recently posted online Sandy Macmillan, head of sales and marketing at Southern Housing Group, said: “We’ve designed this new offer to help our shared owners buy a more suitable home that still remains affordable.
“At Southern we think that shared ownership can no longer be considered a purely transitional tenure or ‘stepping stone’ to full ownership. Second Steps will provide much needed support for existing shared owners wishing to move on.”
The GLA is providing the funding to enable Southern Housing Group to purchase 50 properties for the pilot scheme, the second steps scheme will only be available to existing shared ownership clients in London, there are similar products being developed by other providers in other parts of the country which will improve mobility for shared owners.
As the gap between incomes and house prices continues to grow, shared ownership is the sensible way forward for low to middle income households.