Housing association Aster Group has revealed that it plans to build 2,800 new shared ownership homes over the next five years – boosting its portfolio to over 5,000 by 2024
The announcement made during Shared Ownership Week 2019 (19–25 September), reflects the rising popularity of the product. Aster is building homes across the south of England with demand for shared ownership properties nationally expected to increase by 150% by 2023, according to Savills.
Aster, which offers homes across a range of tenures, built 453 shared ownership properties in the year to the end of March 2019 – its highest single-year total for homes of this tenure.
Amy Nettleton, assistant development director – sales and marketing at Aster Group, said: “First-time buyers face huge challenges when it comes to taking that first step onto the property ladder. I have always been a passionate advocate of a tenure that provides high-quality, affordable and secure housing to people in every corner of the country and we know that shared ownership is a viable solution to the UK’s housing crisis.
“This is why we’ve committed to shared ownership continuing to be a key part of our strategy and development pipeline. The next step is the industry working together to ensure more people are aware of the benefits this type of tenure can offer. With a minimum deposit of 5% this product is suitable for anyone looking to buy a home, whether that is their first or fifth step onto the property ladder.”
A lack of education – among both the general public and shared ownership homeowners – was identified by Aster as a key challenge facing the sector in Another Way. It found that 60% of those surveyed did not know they could move from their existing shared ownership property to another one, and while 73% understood the concept of staircasing – the process of gradually growing an equity stake in the property – only one in 10 had attempted it.
