Today marks the beginning of Shared Ownership Week 2014; an awareness initiative supported by The Mayor of London, to promote wider understanding of the lower cost home ownership scheme and how more Londoners can secure a foothold on the property ladder.

First introduced in 1980, Shared Ownership enables buyers to purchase a smaller share of a property – as little as 25 per cent of its market value – and pay a deposit of just 5 per cent of this share.

London's leading housing associations, including Family Mosaic, L&Q, Newlon Home Ownership and Notting Hill Home Ownership, have joined forces with The Mayor to launch the dedicated campaign, demystify the scheme and, ultimately, set more Londoners on the road to home ownership.

There will be a variety of activities hosted throughout the week, including pop-up First Time Buyer clinics at popular London Shared Ownership developments such as Greenwich Square and Camberwell Fields. The drop-in style clinics will offer free and impartial expert advice on home ownership and the options available. A new Shared Ownership tour bus will also be making its debut at the South Bank to celebrate the launch of Shared Ownership Week 2014.

The week-long awareness campaign comes as the Capital's average property price exceeds £500,0001 and its private rented population grew by more than double the rate of the rest of England (1.4 per cent compared to 0.7 per cent respectively)2.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “This is one of a range of measures we're delivering to help thousands of hard working Londoners own a home. It's crucial workers key to London's economy can live in properties near their places of work and the lower deposits help people on modest incomes buy a share in homes that might be unaffordable on the open market. From single professionals, to families needing extra rooms, shared ownership can really help Londoners access a wide range of good quality housing.”

Shared Ownership is now a popular option among a broad range of first time buyers, from young single professionals to families, and has helped over 200,000 households across the UK into home ownership3.

In London, the scheme represents the cornerstone of The Mayor's FIRST STEPS programme. Shared Ownership homes are available in every borough, offering those earning anything up to £66,000 (£80,000 for family properties) a more affordable route into home ownership. It tackles the key financial challenges faced by the large majority of the Capital's first time buyers: mortgage requirements and deposit amount.

With Shared Ownership, buyers can secure a mortgage for a smaller share of a property's open market value (between 25 and 75 per cent) based on what they can afford. It then offers the opportunity to increase their shares as their earnings rise and gradually 'staircase' their way to full home ownership at a manageable pace.

A subsidised rent is paid on the remaining share, initially capped at 3 per cent of the total value. In most cases the total monthly repayments are equal to, or lower, than rental costs for an equivalent property.

The minimum deposit required is just 5 per cent of the share being purchased, as opposed to the full market value. Last year, Shared Ownership buyers in London paid an average deposit of £12,3754, compared to the average first time buyer deposit of over £76,0005.

For further information Shared Ownership Week 2014 and the properties available, and the First Time Buyer clinics, visit London's gateway to shared ownership at www.sharetobuy.com/firststeps.

- Ends -

To book an interview with Dick Mortimer, Family Mosaic representative, Katie Bond, Notting Hill Housing or Lucy Chitty, L&Q please call YOU on

020 7420 3550

For further media information contact Penny Joyner or Charlotte Treadwell at YOU:

T. 020 7420 3550 Email: Penny@you-agency.com / Charlotte@you-agency.com

NOTES TO EDITORS & ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Ref 1 – The average house price in London now stands at £514,000 (Office for National Statistics House Price Index 2014)

Ref 2 – Figures for the year to June 2014 (Office for National Statistics)

Ref 3 – National Housing Federation, 2013

Ref 4 – Figures for the year 2012/13 (CORE)

Ref 5 – Figures for H1 2014 (Halifax First Time Buyer Review 2014)

Notting Hill Home Ownership

Notting Hill Home Ownership is the commercial division of Notting Hill Housing (NHH); one of London's largest housing associations with more than 27,000 homes across the capital. Founded in 1963, NHH was the first organisation to introduce Shared Ownership in the UK, pioneering the first scheme in 1980.

Today NHH has assets worth more than £2 billion, has an annual turnover of more than £300 million and has offices across London in King's Cross, Hammersmith and Vauxhall.  The organisation has won several awards for creative, sustainable and high-quality design, and is the seventh largest developer in London alongside some of the country's largest developers – Berkeley, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt. 

Katie Bond, Director at Notting Hill Home Ownership

“There is a misguided impression that Shared Ownership is designed simply for those on a lower than average income. It's not. Shared Ownership exists to help the vast proportion of Londoners that cannot afford to buy outright and provide a more affordable option. The sad fact of the matter is that, with the ever inflating London house prices, even those with an income of £66,000 a year are still finding themselves priced out of their local market.”

L&Q

Established in 1963 L&Q is one of the UK's largest and longest standing housing associations, managing over 70,000 homes across London. Its mission is to create places where people want to live and provide high quality affordable homes; which has resulted in L&Q winning more than 20 awards for the design of their homes over recent years. At the very forefront of vast regeneration schemes, L&Q is contributing to the transformation of previously neglected areas of London, such as the former Aylesbury Estate and Haggerston, and making a lasting difference to whole communities.

L&Q's 'Priced In' marketing campaign, which launched in 2013, was created to reassure buyers that they are not necessarily 'priced-out' of the property market and support first time buyers onto the property ladder through their Shared Ownership scheme.

Lucy Chitty, Assistant Sales Director at L&Q

“In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever to raise awareness of Shared Ownership and its benefits for first time buyers in London. So many Londoners are paying monthly rents which can work out to be higher than the cost of owning a home through Shared Ownership.”

Newlon

Newlon Housing Trust is a charitable housing association working entirely in north and east London. Newlon has been one of the major providers of new homes for Shared Ownership in London over the past ten years, including at the award winning Arsenal and Tottenham Hale regeneration projects.

Caroline Pennock, Business Development Director at Newlon

“In north and east London, where Newlon provides affordable housing, demand for new homes is very high and house prices and private rents continue to rise dramatically. This makes Shared Ownership an excellent option to help people take a first step on the housing ladder and to affordably own a share in their own home.”

Family Mosaic

Family Mosaic is an independent housing association providing good quality, affordable homes and housing services to over 45,000 people in communities across London and Essex. Family Mosaic is passionate about helping more first time buyers make that ever important step onto the property ladder. This October, it will launch its brand new campaign, “No Place Like Home”, in response to extensive customer research which found that there is still widespread confusion around Shared Ownership. Inspired by beloved children's book, The Wizard of Oz, the campaign is designed to help educate the market on the benefits of Shared Ownership and promote the new tools Family Mosaic have created to help buyers on their journey.

Dick Mortimer, Group Director of Property Services at Family Mosaic

“With headlines often dominated by negativity of buyers unable to purchase a home in the capital, Shared Ownership is playing a vital role in helping more people step onto the property ladder. There is still some way to go however to help more consumers understand the initiative and its benefits – crucially that purchasing through Shared Ownership requires a much smaller deposit than buying on the open market.”