- 02
- Apr
A new show entitled Affordable Britain has been launched in the capital and is aimed at giving key workers a chance to buy a house at a price they can afford. The ironic thing about the show is that all but one property has a price tag above £250,000.
The show has homes which are specifically reserved for key sector worker however the problem that some of the homes reserved for these workers cost as much as 15 times the average income of a nurse or fire-fighter.
This is all part of the government’s New Build Home Buy scheme. Most are only one-bed apartments and most buyers will only be purchasing a quarter share since the required minimum income levels make most public sector workers ineligible to purchase the whole property.
The government hopes that this scheme will allow those who are priced out of the property market to still be able to buy a share of a property, somewhere in the region of between 25% and 75%. Key workers are given priority, with first time buyers coming in second. While the scheme has been rolled out across the UK it is predominately focused on London since there has been a massive exodus of key workers from the capital in search of cheaper housing.
The show is mostly filled with apartments and very little houses. A typical offer at the show is to by a 30% share in a property estimated cost between £275,000 and £375,000. However you need a minimum income of £26,000 even to be considered as a contender, so key workers who have already been turned down for a home loan for a standard property may not find that they have enough income to take out a loan on one of these specialist homes.
