Unique Model Launched To Fund New Social Housing

Social landlords could fund new homes if they let tenants buy stakes in their properties and then sold the remaining shares to private housing groups. Assettrust Housing’s ‘OwnYourHome’ scheme allows working social tenants to buy a share of their social home at a discounted price. The company then buys the remaining share of the property from the social landlord. It believes housing associations stand to receive £85,000 on average per property – which could then be used to fund new homes. To buy the share – estimated to be between 30 per cent and 60 per cent - the tenant takes out a mortgage with a lender but only on the price of the share they will take, hence removing the common obstacle of high deposits. To attract potential buyers, tenants get a 25 per cent discount on the share price. The tenants then pay rent – which would be “slightly” higher than social - directly to Assettrust on the share of the property they don’t own. Read more on 24dash.