Just in case anybody is starting to get confused, here's an overview of some of the main schemes the UK government has dreamed up to "help people get on the property ladder":
FirstBuy "is a new product in the Government’s HomeBuy range designed to help first time buyers into home ownership in a way they can afford. It is expected to assist nearly 10,500 purchasers to buy a new home over the next two years."
FirstRungNow "has a number of schemes designed to help first time buyers - not just key workers but others from households where the yearly earnings are under £60,000 and in rare cases, with less stringent criteria."
HomeBuyDirect "offers equity loans towards the purchase of a new build home on selected developments. You buy a minimum of 70% of the market value of a property. An equity loan of up to 30% is provided to assist your purchase. There are no payments on the loan for the first five years."
NewBuy "assists buyers who have a deposit of at least 5 per cent to buy a new build home. This is a smaller deposit than is normally required. The scheme will allow more borrowers to secure up to a 95 per cent Loan to Value mortgage on new build properties (houses and flats) from participating builders in England... The initiative was developed jointly by the Home Builders Federation and Council of Mortgage Lenders. The Government is backing the scheme to help those home buyers who have found themselves excluded from sections of the market because they don't have a large enough deposit. NewBuy is expected to assist up to 100,000 households in buying a new home. "
Rent to HomeBuy " offers new build homes to rent for a pre-defined period of time with the expectation that you will buy a share of the property at the end of the rental period. Homes are available through a range of housing associations on assured shorthold tenancies with an affordable rent of 80% (or less) of market rents. The rent is payable for a pre-defined and limited period, after which time there is an expectation that you will purchase the property on the terms of New Build HomeBuy. The rental period provides you with the opportunity to save for a deposit towards buying a share in the home, enabling you to access mortgage availability."
Shared Ownership/New Build " offers brand new homes for sale on a part buy / part rent basis. Homes are available through different housing associations. You can buy shares worth between 25% and 75% of the property's market value and you pay a subsidised rent on the remaining share. You may need to raise a mortgage to purchase your share. If you have a large deposit or equity from the sale of a property, this can also be used towards purchasing your share."
Monday 12 March 2012
It's all very simple...
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16 comments:
Scotland has a few, too:
Rural Home Ownership Grant scheme - to help those on low incomes to buy property. Mainly used by the children of those best placed to play the system - i.e. wealthy parents. Grant is 33% of the cost of the house, not repayable after 10th anniversary.
LIFT - "Low-cost Initiative for First Time buyers". Different rules for new and "used" properties, but basically shared equity with Govt. buying 20% of the house and keeping it until sale - when they take 20% of proceeds.
Shared Ownership - through Housing Associations. Buy property in 25% chunks, rent the remainder. Not uniquely Scottish.
Shared Equity schemes - arranged direct between builders and warm and cuddly lenders; Nationwide and Halifax. Buyer buys 100% of the house but pays for 80%. Remaining 20% is payable to the builder after 10 years, secured by a second charge and based on the value in 10 years' time. Builder makes an absolute fortune because (a) he cashes in on the planning permission premium and (b) the Scottish Fuckwits, er, sorry, Government, have put in place a new build grant scheme to builders of 15% of the building costs to allow the house to be "sold more cheaply" (yes! They're so stupid they seem really to believe a 15% grant will make the house 15% cheaper!).
Corruption is alive and well in the Land of the Whinging.
For Government, wherever mentioned, read "taxpayer", of course. Which really means you lot down there :-)
FT, so it's all nice and simple up there as well: if you own land, you get free money. The SNP are, as I suspected, as Home-Owner-Ist as any other major party.
I am losing the will to live, again...
HomieMagicPorridgePotBuy: The government guarantees a new scheme which doesn't cost anything, which means your houses rise in price, but which have no impact on your children buying houses.
actually, the new scheme strikes me as slightly less poisonous than most because it does get more homes built.
I'm moving 'up there' soon, to Aberdeen.
Apparently, the houses cost so much there (because of 'the oil' they tell me) that they haven't been able to recruit any new trading standards folk for 2 years despite all the redundancies and pay cuts in the counties.
Still they pay a wee bit more than down here and nowhere could possibly be as absurdly HOist and difficult to rent a room as Brighton and Hove.
TS, it's the same old rubbish, and what's stopping homes being built is a) NIMBYism and b) lack of LVT on sites with planning permission.
SL, the downside is, if you have to sleep rough in B&H, you'll survive the night, up in the Arctic Circle you can't take these chances. But I do hope that rents are lower and wages are higher.
Ah, I'll get back on the road up there. No point in having all that beautiful countryside on your doorstep and not the means to enjoy it.
A couple of tealights, a decent blanket and I'll be fine.
The SNP are, as I suspected, as Home-Owner-Ist as any other major party.
Oh yes. Especially when they can do it with other peoples' money. I've often thought Scotland is a bit like the BBC in that regard; a substantial budget to be spent, largely unearned. It just turns up in the bank account.
Speaking of Pravda, they had an interview this morning on Radio Scotland with some academic who's done a study on Scottish attitudes to HomeOwnerShip. I'm trying to get the details and a copy of the report; the headline stat was that 25% of Scottish first time buyers regard "getting on the housing ladder" as being more of a priority than pursuing a career. That is so irrationally stupid on so many levels that I'm left with my flabber completely gasted.
25% regard paying rent to landlords as "lining the pockets of unscrupulous landlords" but evidently view paying rent on money from banks as a wonderful and empowering thing. They seem to be the lot who think they'll make their fortune from HomeOwnerIsm.
A couple of tealights, a decent blanket and I'll be fine.
And a good windbreak for the tealights. Oh, and something to keep the rain off :-))
Good luck with the move.
In the Aberdeen area, housing north of the city tends to be more expensive than housing south of the city because (for some reason which is not obvious to me) Aberdonian commuters prefer living there. I have lived in Aberdeen and north, west and south of the city and my experience is that you can find pleasant places in all of them, although the west and the south are more scenic. But the easiest commute into the city is from the south, even if you work in the centre of town. The hardest commute is from the north.
When I worked in Aberdeen during the late 1990s and early 2000s, I lived in the county of Angus which seems on the face of it to be quite a bit south of Aberdeen but my morning commute was actually quite stress free because there's a good dual carriageway from Forfar/Brechin to Aberdeen and a decent train service from Arbroath/Montrose/Stonehaven. Of course living in Aberdeen is possible too and there are some nice areas particularly in the west end but they can be a bit expensive.
Personally I liked living in Angus because it was close to the mountains and the sea and gave you two cities to choose from (Aberdeen and Dundee) if you wanted to go the theatre, cinema, etc. but that's personal taste.
Down here in West Wales, they have a daft scheme whereby any new build "development" must have a proportion of "low-cost housing" in it. Of course, if you are building only one house, it is difficult to make 20% "low-cost", so you have an alternative - pay a fee of 100/m2 of your new house and the requirement will be waived. Why someone hasn't said to these idiots, "show me where I can buy some low-cost land to build on and I will build you some low-cost housing", I don't know. I suppose they don't really want the "low-cost" housing, seeing that it is as mythical as stabling for unicorns, they want the waiver fees.
Steven_L I thought B+H was the rental town of the UK?
All those students and unemployed have to be housed somewhere and I'm sure I read Brighton is a renter's paradise.
BQ-Ind used to have a shop there. We had 3 or 4 druggies living in the yard space out the back. When I called the council to warn them there were hundreds of needles there, they sent us a fine!
Hell that's depressed me. It's beyond stupid.
The rate of home ownership in Germany is lower than in any other European country. Plus some psychologist tested the IQs of inhabitants of European countries and Germans came top. Coincidence?
BQ, it's no paradise. £600/pcm gets you a tiny studio.
Then its 10 to 20 people going for each room in a shared house, waste of time trying really.
It's by a mile the worst place for renting I've ever lived.
SL, buy the time you've bought enough camping gear (including those burners to keep the midges away) you'll find it's cheaper renting.
FT, good to hear that HOism is alive and well north of the border.
B, that £100/m2 is not such a bad idea, it gets a bit of money for the council and no harm done.
AKH, oh, it will get worse.
RM, there is more to it than that, the German system seems to work but it is all very highly regulated and by and large, house prices were insanely high thirty or forty years ago and have stood still ever since. But, for a number of reasons, renting is quite good value and tenants get good protection.
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