Thread: Open Market Homebuyer Scheme

The SofS mentioned the Open Market Homebuyer Scheme in a speech to the House of Commons on 10th January. He stated that as members of the Armed Forces we would be eligible for the scheme that can provide an equity loan up to 32.5% of the value of the property.

I decided to do some investigating and found this:

http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk

It appears that HMG will provide an interest free loan for the duation of your mortgage upto 17.5% of the value of the property.

A mortgage lender will provide you with a 15% equity loan for the property that is interest free for 5 years before going onto 3%.

This leaves a 67.5% mortgage payable at standard rates.

In my simplistic mind this means that I can buy a house and pay no interest at all for 5 years on 32.5% of the 'mortgage', after this I will pay no interest at all on 15% of the 'mortgage' total.

Now I know it involves an equity loan and so I will have to pay off so much at the end of the term (depending on the value of the property). i.e. I will owe 32.5% of what the property is worth (not what I borrowed).

I was just wondering whether anybody had already taken advantage of the scheme, and what pitfalls they had encountered?

i used the LSAP scheme, sorry.

Obviously I am not in a position to say whether it is right for you or not, but my brother used one of the early shared ownership schemes to get started on the property ladder and never looked back. Good luck however it turns out. For most people getting on to the ladder is a good thing but not for all.