Since launching last year, the government confirmed that the Social Homebuy Scheme had helped just 33 borrowers onto the property ladder.
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Yvette Cooper, Housing Minister, confirmed that take-up of the scheme had been limited, but said she expected it to grow over the coming months. She explained: “33 Social Homebuy sales were completed up to the end of February 2007 and there are 575 applications in the pipeline. The sales are mainly from the four first housing association pilots.
“41 housing associations and two local authorities have now begun offering the scheme to their tenants as part of the Social Homebuy pilot. We expect a further 37 housing associations and six more local authorities to do so by April 2007.”
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However, a spokesperson for Nationwide, which offers Homebuy opportunities, said although the scheme was only a very small part of its overall business proposition, it had been successful so far.
They said: “Shared ownership initiatives such as Social Homebuy and Open Market Homebuy make up such a small percentage of our business overall, and we know that such schemes are unlikely to make us any money. It was never going to be a massive scheme, or a big money spinner. However, it was only launched in October and mortgage cases like these can take a few months to put through.”
