Shared Ownership: from Generation Rent to First Time Buyer
By Andrew Sadler, Business Development Manager, Ipswich Building Society
Andrew joined Ipswich Building Society in 2015, following over 20 years’ in financial services and significant experience in intermediary mortgage lending. Andrew believes the intermediary and lender relationship should be mutually beneficial, and spends his time understanding the business needs of intermediaries and how the Ipswich can best serve them.
When The Who sang about My Generation, it became a symbol of teenage angst. Released in 1965, “their generation” experienced the gaining popularity of the cassette recorder, could buy a loaf of bread for 9p (1970) and the average first time home owner in the 1960s was just 23, rising to 26 in 1974.
Today we are streaming our music, buying bread at over £1 and getting on the housing ladder at the age of 30. Not so much My Generation, as Generation Rent – over the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in those aged 25-34 within the private rental sector: 46% in 2014-15, compared with 24% in 2004-5. How can we help aspiring home owners?
At Ipswich Building Society we’ve long supported initiatives such as Shared Ownership to help first time buyers get on the housing ladder, and rely on our experienced manual underwriters to help borrowers with increasingly different, and complex, lending situations. The days of ‘2.4′ and ‘9-5′ have given way to those who are borrowing later in life; are self employed; are divorced with income through child maintenance; and those who want to build their own home.
In particular, shared ownership is increasingly seen as a practical and flexible alternative to a traditional mortgage, with the difficultly of saving for a deposit against the scenario of rising house prices. Shared ownership isn’t all we do. But it’s a great place to start. So, if you’ve got clients who are looking to get on the housing ladder talk to us.
Key features of our shared ownership mortgages
• We lend up to 95% LTV on houses and flats
• Must have ability to staircase to 100%
• Minimum share 50% – please refer if lower
• New build acceptable
• Open Market shared ownership considered on scheme by scheme basis
• No credit scoring
• Manual underwrite
