{"id":268,"date":"2017-10-22T19:55:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-22T18:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.investate.co.uk\/blog\/?p=268"},"modified":"2021-08-17T14:50:47","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T13:50:47","slug":"how-to-get-on-the-property-ladder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investate.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-get-on-the-property-ladder\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Get On The Property Ladder (Without Murdering Your Parents!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We recently read quite a disturbing article<\/a> suggesting that 38% of surveyed people thought their best chance of getting on the property ladder was to rely on inheritance from their deceased parents!<\/p>\n

You can’t blame these morbid people for thinking such dark and depressing thoughts – especially when you consider a statistic provided by the Office of National Statistics<\/a> which indicates that the median price paid for residential property in England and Wales increased by 259% between 1997 and 2016, but median individual annual earnings only increased by 68% in the same time period! Holy fruit salad!<\/p>\n

It represents the sad state of today\u2019s economic climate, and it reminds us of the mountain that people have to climb in order to get on the property ladder. So instead of popping off your parents, we are going to explore some government schemes that enable hard-working people like you to buy your first home.<\/p>\n

Help To Buy: Shared Ownership<\/h2>\n

The government offers shared ownership schemes to households who earn an income of less than \u00a380,000 (\u00a390,000 in London). You can buy between a 25% and 75% share of the property and pay rent to the housing association on the remainder.<\/p>\n

There is the opportunity to buy more shares in the property at a later date, until you are the full owner \u2013 this is called \u2018staircasing\u2019 (the share price will depend on the property value at the time, which may go up or down).<\/p>\n

If you wanted to sell your home, there is still potential to make a profit or a loss<\/strong> from the shares you own. And the housing association would have first refusal to buy them back.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.helptobuy.gov.uk\/shared-ownership\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Help to Buy: Equity Loan<\/h2>\n

With this scheme the government will lend you 20% (40% in London) of the value of the property, leaving the remaining 80% for your mortgage and deposit. There are a few notable \u2018gotchas\u2019 with this scheme that you should take note of:<\/p>\n