Compare shared equity mortgages if you need help getting on the property ladder. You can use them to buy a home using either a shared equity or a property developer's scheme.
Shared equity is when you borrow additional money aside from the mortgage itself, known as an equity loan, to help form part of your deposit for a new home.You will usually still need to provide some of the deposit yourself, typically at least 5%.
You then take out a shared equity mortgage to cover the remaining purchase price of the property you want to buy. This will leave you with two loans to repay at the same time, but as the equity loan is used to increase your deposit, the loan size you need to borrow with the mortgage is lower.Ìý
This reduces the LTV (loan to value) which gives you access to better interest rates on your mortgage. There are different equity loan schemes available, but the most well-known is the government Help to Buy scheme Equity Loan Scheme, which was previously available in England and is still open to applicants in Wales until December 2022.Ìý
An equity loan is typically, but not always, offered by a different lender than the mortgage lender, and is used to top up your deposit funds, helping put you in a better decision to take out a mortgage. This can be especially helpful for first-time buyers that are struggling to save a large enough deposit to purchase the value of property that they want or need.Ìý
The role a deposit plays in a mortgage application is to provide the lender with confidence that you are personally investing in the purchase, reducing the amount that you need to borrow from them, and therefore the risk they take on in lending to you. This means that the larger your deposit is, the better mortgage interest rates a lender will be able to offer you.
Equity loans are usually paid back in monthly installments or when you sell your home, depending on the individual scheme. Some may have an initial interest-free period, such as the help to buy scheme, however, in the vast majority of schemes, you will eventually incur interest charges unless you repay the loan in a defined period.
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Pay a 5% deposit of £15,000 from your own savings
Get a 20% equity loan of £60,000
Apply for a mortgage for the remaining 75%, which would be £225,000
The amount you repay will be based on the market value at the time. So if your home has gone up in value to £400,000 when you want to pay back the loan, you would need to repay 20% of this amount, which would be £80,000.
As with any financial agreement, there are both benefits and drawbacks to using a shared equity scheme. Using this type of scheme can be an excellent way to get your feet onto the property ladder, however, before making a decision, you should consider the following:Ìý
The amount you borrow can increase:
Because you borrow a percentage of the property's value rather than a monetary value, the loan size will fluctuate with the value of your home. This means that if you carry out considerable home improvements and/or the market sees an increase in house prices, you could end up owing more than you originally borrowed
Remortgaging can be difficult:
There are considerably fewer lenders willing to offer remortgages on shared equity properties with an outstanding equity loan, than there are willing to offer the initial mortgage. This means that you could be locked into the same rate of interest for a long time. Once you’ve repaid the equity loan, however, you will be able to remortgage as normal
You can’t typically choose any property:
Most schemes are set up for new build homes only, so your choice of home will be limited to those new builds available within the relevant scheme
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