Homes England changes

As of today, the new Homes England changes come into force on all Shared Ownership homes outside of Greater London that are in receipt of grant funding or form part of the Homes England affordable homes programme. The purpose of these changes are to ensure greater transparency and clarity on Shared Ownership affordability and to align more closely with mortgage lenders methodology.

The key points are:

• The removal of the old affordability calculator and guidance including the 45% debt to net income ratio.
• Increased and clarified expectations of the Financial Advisors to ensure eligibility, affordability and priority are all checked.
• Introduction of a budget planner and sign off sheets to confirm these checks have been made.
• Checking that the Shared Ownership mortgage payments do not exceed 30% of the buyer’s net income.

Homes England have stated that further guidance will be published later on in 2024 relating to audit requirements. At the moment the GLA have not adopted these changes and will be continuing to use the old affordability methods on Shared Ownership sales within Greater London. Our sales teams overseeing developments outside of Greater London are fully up to date on these affordability changes, so please get in touch if you require any clarifications or assistance.