Shared-ownership mortgages in demand

Posted: 05 May 2009 10:44:27 GMT

More property buyers are showing an interest in shared-ownership homes, according to the National Housing Federation (NHF).

A spokesman for the organisation, which represents housing associations across the UK, claimed that the upturn in demand has not necessarily resulted in more sales.

The NHF representative noted that there is currently a "problem" whereby many lenders consider shared-ownership properties "as a higher risk than open market sale properties".

He added: "Despite high interest, a lot of people have struggled to get mortgages."

In recent months, the NHF has been calling on the government to relax lending criteria and, according to the spokesman, is "hopeful" the current administration will soon change the legislation.

His comments follow last week's announcement from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) that 26,097 new mortgages were approved in March 2009.

This BBA figure was down almost 2,000 on the previous month's seasonally adjusted figure of 28,024.


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