The Co-operative Bank and Camden Council have created a shared ownership scheme to help local people in the London borough climb onto the housing ladder.
Camden has the third highest house prices in Greater London where the average house in 2012 costs £760,000, while the average price of a flat will set you back £562,500, according to the Land Registry.
Camden Council is to build new homes through its 15 year Community Investment Plan, which includes the development of a number of sites for mixed tenure housing. The council will sell homes directly with the proceeds being invested back into existing local authority homes.
New housing on these sites will include homes for rent, shared ownership and outright sale. The council is keen to encourage routes into home ownership for local people and house prices start at £280,000.
In support of the scheme, The Co-operative Bank has opened up its entire range of mortgage products usually available at 90 per cent loan-to-value (LTV). But for this scheme the bank has reduced the deposit required by eligible customers looking to buy one of the shared ownership homes to 5 per cent.
Camden Council cabinet member for housing, councillor Julian Fulbrook, said: “We’re really pleased to be working with The Co-operative Bank to try and buck the trend and encourage home ownership across a wide range of backgrounds rather than it being something exclusively for the borough’s higher earners.
“As part of our 15 year Community Investment Programme we’re committed to developing local solutions such as this to play our role in overcoming huge government cuts.”
James Hillon, head of mortgages at The Co-operative Bank, commented: “We believe that by working with Camden Council we’re giving people in the region a practical route into home ownership but still offering choice from housing across a range of developments in addition to the opportunity for them to select a mortgage that suits their needs.”
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