A shared ownership scheme from housebuilder Barratt West Midlands and registered provider Affinity Sutton, is helping local people get on the property ladder at a development of new homes in Shard End, Birmingham called The Crescent.

The scheme aims to provide affordable housing for sale to local people at one of the city's latest regeneration schemes. Purchasers can initially buy a 25 to 75 per cent share of the property and pay subsidised rent on the remaining share. Owners can then buy further shares in their home until they own the full 100 per cent.

Lisa Preston, Sales Manager for Barratt West Midlands comments, "It is great to have a scheme that can help homebuyers, who may not be eligible for other schemes such as the Government-backed FirstBuy scheme, get onto the property ladder.

"At The Crescent we are offering the Affinity Sutton shared ownership scheme on a number of two-bedroom apartments. These apartments are ideal as a first home and have an affordable price tag starting from £85,000 up to £88,000."

This means that buyers can purchase a 25 per cent share of an apartment from £21,250 and pay approximately £135 per month rent on the remaining share.

Lisa continues, "Purchasers at The Crescent that have used the shared ownership scheme have mentioned that it is saving them money as they are paying less with this scheme than they did renting, even with their mortgage and rental payments are taken into account.

"Therefore we'd urge anyone who would love to get on the property ladder but thinks it's out of their reach, to contact our sales office today to find out how we can help you purchase a new home."

Yvette Ruggins, Sales Director of Affinity Sutton comments, "these shared ownership apartments are very affordable. With our purchasers able to access mortgages with only a 5% deposit, you can get on the ladder with just over £1,060 deposit!"

The Crescent is located on The Shardway and includes a new shopping centre and state of the art library, heralding a new era for this part of Birmingham. It has easy access to the M6 and M42 as well.  

The Crescent also has three-bedroom houses available on the open market and priced from £142,950.

For further information about the available homes at The Crescent or Affinity Sutton please contact the sales centre at The Crescent on 0121 748 2638 open daily from 10am to 5pm.

You can also call the sales hotline on 0844 811 9933 open seven days a week from 8am to 9pm. You can also log on to www.barratthomes.co.uk/thecrescent 

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

1)    For further information about The Crescent or Barratt West Midlands please contact Hannah Elwell, Director of PR or Sophie Redman, PR Account Executive on 0116 247 1777 or hannah@unsworthsugden.co.uk or sophie@unsworthsugden.co.uk

2)    Barratt Group sold 11,171 homes in the last financial year, making it the biggest housebuilder by volume in Britain.

3)    Barratt Group was named Housebuilder of the Year at the Housebuilder Awards 2011.

4)    Barratt Group was awarded a maximum five star rating for the second consecutive year in the 2011 Home Builders Federation Customer Satisfaction Survey.

5)    In 2011 site managers working for Barratt Group won the highest number of NHBC Pride in the Job Quality Awards for a record seventh consecutive year.

6)    Barratt Group is the only housebuilder to guarantee the fixtures and fittings in place at the time of purchase of its new homes for five years.

7)    Barratt Group is also one of Britain's foremost sustainable housebuilders.

8)    Affinity Sutton is one of the largest affordable housing providers in England with over 57,000 homes.

9)    Affinity Sutton won the prestigious What House awards for Best Housing Association last November.

10)  Images of a selection of developments are available to the media at http://www.barrattdevelopments.co.uk/barratt/en/media/mediakit/lib