Are lenders willing to offer loans to shared-ownership borrowers?
Lenders remain cautious, but say they are largely in favour of sharedownership schemes, as long as the applicant meets their mortgage criteria for the share they are buying. James Thorpe, of HSBC, said: “The reality is that if the customer is going down the route of shared ownership, it is likely they won’t have a very big deposit and will be looking for slightly higher income multiples on their loan, which makes it harder. “But this is the case for any mortgage and we don’t view sharedownership clients any differently from customers buying properties outright.” In rural areas, times are tougher as incomes tend to be lower than in cities, which makes lenders nervous. Matt Griffith, a senior adviser at the Commission for Rural Communities, said: “The price on shared ownership in rural areas is still very high in relation to average incomes. Banks are nervous about lending as they see it as a high-risk option.” There are a number of conditions that lenders take into account. Households m
