Shared Equity

Want to get on the property ladder? Can afford to own your own home? Great...but you're struggling to get a large deposit?

Helena Living's shared equity option could be the key to buying your own home.

Shared equity offers people the chance to own 100% of the property through an equity loan of up to 20%, which means that you may only need to raise fund to the value of 80% of your new home (made up of your deposit and mortgage). To buy one of our shared equity homes you may only need a 5% deposit, depending on you mortgage lender.

There is nothing to pay on the loan for five years to give you a chance to settle into the costs associated with owning your home. After that, the loan will be subject to a fee of 1.75% per annum on the outstanding amount of the equity loan and this will increase each year by RPI Retail Price Index) plus 1%. We always recommend that you seek financial advice to determine how much your monthly payments will be at this time. We have a number of shared equity products, with different redemption times ranging from 15 to 25 years. Buyers can opt to repay part or the entire equity loan at any time from purchase up to the end of the loan agreement and when you sell your property, (our choose to repay some or all of the equity loan), the amount you pay back will be based on the market value of your property at the time you repay the loan.

Example

Joanne, a part-time secretary, and John, a driver, have a joint income of £36,000. They want to buy a Helena Living home for £120,000 and have saved a small deposit but still can't find a bank or building society that will offer them the mortgage they need.

Using the Helena equity loan, the couple can buy their £120,000 house for just £96,000 with the remaining £24,000 being paid by Helena as the loan.

For the first five years there is nothing to pay on the loan. After that it will cost Joanne and John £35 per month (1.75% of the loan value).

If the couple were to sell the house in the future for more than they bought it for, they would have to pay back the equity loan at 20% of the home's current value.