Shared ownership: low knowledge and interest

Lack of information and uncertainty about eligibility are the biggest barriers to private renters buying a home through a shared ownership scheme according to new research by Ipsos for Catalyst Housing Limited. The survey also found that:

• Three-quarters of private renters expect to be living in the same tenure in two years time (77%). 10% expect to be buying on a mortgage, only 1% to be buying a share.
• 82% of tenants renting from a local authority and 89% of mortgage-holders expect to be in the same tenure.
• Just under half, 47%, say they have never heard of shared ownership and a further 23% have, but say they don’t know anything about it.
• Awareness is higher among the wider adult population (covering all tenure groups) but still low: 36% say they have never heard of it, 26% that they know nothing about it.
• The lack of information (24%) features as a perceived barrier to shared ownership among private renters along with uncertainty about eligibility with 23% doubting their eligibility because of their income (and 9% because of their job). These are selected from a list of eleven potential reasons by more renters ahead of a preference to buy without funding from anyone else (18%) and a desire for more choice in the type of property (16%).
• There is lukewarm interest in shared ownership schemes among this group. While 29% of private renters say they are either very or fairly interested, 64% say they are not.
• Even including the option of increasing the share of ownership and porting a scheme from one property to another does not tempt the disinterested. Respectively, 86% and 87% say they are ‘not at all’ or ‘not very interested’ in schemes with these options.

Downloads

• Download the survey Topline (PDF)

Technical Note

Ipsos interviewed 591 private renters between 11-24 November 2011 and a sample of 3,973 British adults, face-to-face in-home. Data has been weighted to the national profile by age, sex, working status, social grade, region, ethnicity and tenure. Additionally, data for private renters has been weighted by age, sex, work status and household size.