Alan Crowe BSc (Hons) ACII FCIB FSI FIB FCIBS FCMI FIoD FRSA MCIH Chartered Director
New thinking for today’s unique mix of housing market conditions.
BUSINESS AND STRATEGY
Housing wealth is important, and it will become more so.
Home ownership has a long tradition of being profitable. This year even more so.
It’s been an excellent investment for those who have been able to own. And caused real anxiety to many who have felt locked out because of the latest serious deterioration in affordability.
We are here to help swell the ranks of home owners. The challenge ahead is to secure enough properties at affordable prices for our clients.
- Co-Ownership has stayed active in both the new and existing property markets, for all types of home, but
- Strong investment activity and cheap borrowing mean that
- Lower priced properties are in short supply
Co-Ownership has been fully developed over the past 28 years and has a strong track record, with tremendous positive feedback from clients. It’s inbuilt flexibility means that Co-Ownership will continue as a mainstay of affordable housing policy in Northern Ireland.
Nonetheless, the housing market is a complex living thing, and we are keen to ensure that this organisation’s objective of providing affordable homes through shared ownership carries forward into the growing regional housing market and into diverse local markets.
We are therefore in the course of discussion and development on a range of affordable initiatives, and hope to be able to report some positive news on this front in the next reporting year.
- Rising property prices help to make staircasing more affordable
Traditionally, the Co-Ownership clients most likely to staircase were on an upward trajectory in terms of occupation and income.
Not so today, thanks to cheaper borrowing and a raft of flexible remortgage products open to borrowers with a track record. The rise in the property’s value provides the lender with enhanced security for a larger loan on attractive repayment terms.
Hand in hand, we provide individual support and advice on the staircasing process to help clients to make the move that’s most advantageous to them.
More clients are able to staircase, and they’re moving on with a larger nest egg than ever before.
HOT TOPICS
We are seeing signs of clients looking to purchase being pushed downmarket in terms of property size and condition. Our concern is the sustainability of such options, particularly for the first time buyer who is typically younger and poised to start growing a family.
The traditional link to the bottom 25% of property prices, imported from GB, is increasingly strained in the local market.
We need a fresh approach to defining eligible property for purchase through Co-Ownership, if not we’ll be hard pressed to help supply affordable homes in given areas.
We are therefore continuing to press the social and business case with the Department for Social Development as our property policy makers.
We have seen various quick fix mortgage offers where the borrower never actually pays off his debt but relies on capital appreciation to get some value out of his choice. It’s a risky strategy that’s short term at best – leave it too long and risk being trapped on that single rung of the property ladder.
Consequently, we have worked closely with a variety of mortgage lenders this year - some high street names, some less well known to the public. As I write I am pleased that several lenders are offering ”no deposit” mortgages for Co-Ownership clients and we expect that others will come on board.
AND FINALLY
I cannot sign off on this year’s report without taking time out to put on record a note of appreciation for James Doherty, our retiring Chairman.
James has chosen to step down from the Board after 18 years of dedicated service in various capacities. Speaking as a relative newcomer, I am thankful for the encouragement and integrity that have characterised his tenure, and I am glad to have had the opportunity to work with him over the past 3 years.
James also has the affection and respect of the full staff complement; he will be missed and we send him every good wish for the future.
Our staff, management and directors have worked unflaggingly throughout the year to secure an excellent performance in a difficult operating environment. The housing market has run on at breakneck pace this year, with no real signs of slowing any time soon.
Our challenge, therefore, for the year ahead is to keep on keeping up. We are well up for that, we realise the importance of getting people into homes of their own.
