At a time when more and more people are finding it increasingly difficult to buy a property outright, shared ownership offers an excellent opportunity for first time buyers to take their first step onto the home ownership ladder. You don’t physically share your home with someone, but instead buy a percentage share of the property, and rent the remainder from Irwell Valley. Your rent and mortgage payments combined are still usually less than the repayments would be on a mortgage for the whole amount. Click here for further information on shared ownership.

Buying additional shares in your home or buying it outright

If you are a shared owner and want to buy extra shares in your home, you can do so using a process called ‘staircasing’. Staircasing allows you to buy additional shares in your home or even staircase out completely to own the whole of your home. Your rent payments will reduce as you increase the share that you own.