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.
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.
