As UK homeownership declines, tenants will never be able to use their homes to release equity for a deposit, denying their children the chance to own a home, said Sara Woodall, director of corporate housing at The Accord Group at the Building Societies Association conference.
Woodall rejected the assertion by Paragon’s group chief executive Nigel Terrington that just research suggests just 40% of adults said they wanted to buy in 2010 compared with 80% in 1989.
Terrington cited economist David Mile’s research which suggested first-time buyers would be back within four years when affordability rose to meet house prices.
But Woodall said the mutual sector could help in a variety ways, including “clearer product descriptions with “less gobbledigook, numbers and jargon which hit you between the eyes.”
Translation services and a greater understanding from mutuals that shared equity should not be “tarred with the same brush as sub-prime” would also be helpful, she said.
Woodall suggested a variety of strategies, including stronger alliances between lenders and the social housing sector, more accurate social housing stock valuations and greater flexibility on deposits would help many into home ownership.
“The government is asking us to come up with ways to charge rent based on ability to pay – why can’t we do the same with mortgages?” she asked.
