The Co-op and Camden Council help out first time buyers

In a first of its kind for the Bank, Camden Council and The Co-operative Bank have joined forces to create affordable options for home ownership in the borough.

With Camden being home to the third highest housing prices in Greater London, it is particularly challenging for first time buyers or those on lower incomes who wish to buy locally. In a move designed to support these individuals, the bank and council have worked together to develop a new shared ownership scheme to enable people to purchase one of the many homes being built by the council across multiple developments.

In support of the scheme, The Co-operative Bank has opened up its entire range of mortgage products usually available at 90% LTV but reduced the deposit required by eligible customers looking to buy one of the shared ownership homes to just 5%. With rates starting at 3.99%, this gives those who may otherwise have struggled to find a deposit for their first home the opportunity to buy, whilst still giving them the flexibility to choose a competitive mortgage to suit their needs.

Camden Council has a 15 year Community Investment Plan which aims to develop local solutions to the challenges of massive government cuts.  This includes the development of a number of sites for mixed tenure housing where the Council will sell homes directly with the proceeds being invested back into existing Council homes.  New housing on these sites will include homes for rent, shared ownership and outright sale, and the Council is keen to encourage routes into home ownership for local people.  The first development at Holly Lodge in Highgate is now ready and will be followed by future developments at Chester Balmore, Maiden Lane and Abbey Road.

Camden Council Cabinet member for housing, Councillor Julian Fulbrook said, "High asking prices for homes in our part of London coupled with increasing pressures on people's finances mean that the ability to buy a home is a dream not a reality for many local people. We're really pleased to be working with The Co-operative Bank to try and buck the trend and encourage home ownership across a wide range of backgrounds rather than it being something exclusively for the borough's higher earners. As part of our 15 year Community Investment Programme we're committed to developing local solutions such as this to play our role in overcoming huge Government cuts."

James Hillon, Head of Mortgages at The Co-operative Bank said: "We know that getting on the property ladder is tough and as a responsible and trusted lender we want to ensure that it is an achievable goal for the many hard working people who have ambitions to own their own home. We believe that by working with Camden Council we're giving people in the region a practical route into home ownership but still offering choice from housing across a range of developments in addition to the opportunity for them to select a mortgage that suits their needs. We don't want to leave it there though and as part of our commitment to lend £360m to first time buyers this year, we're working hard to develop innovative ways to make it easier for people to own their own home."