Shared Ownership next to crossrail?

[Butteryflakycrust83]

Realistically, we will never own a house the traditional route. We currently rent in an outer London suburb but rents have already started to skyrocket due to the opening of the Crossrail line at the local station.

The area itself is grotty and run down but has incredible green space nearby, which is why we stay.

There are new build flats popping up all over the area close to the station.

I am wondering if its worth doing shared ownership to get on the ladder in one of the flats, in the hope that in 5/10 years, the area will improve (gentrify?) in the next 5-10 years, similar to what happened in places like Forest Hill/Sydenham and the flat will be worth enough for us to sell to get a bigger deposit together.

Although WFH will always be around in some form, I can see the area being a big draw as access to Canary Wharf/central London in 10-15 minutes.

Downsides is of course its a risk, and I really do love having a garden with out DD2, especially after lockdown.

Would you risk it?

Even if prices don't skyrocket, you'll a) build some equity and b) have some protection against rising rents.

We looked at S/O but in the end went for 100% of a scruffy 1 bed flat instead of a new 2 bed shared ownership property (we didn't need the 2nd bedroom then, & we were able to scrape together a 6% deposit & get a 94% mortgage - the interest rate was high though).

Initially the mortgage was about £100 pcm higher than rent would have been; after two years rents had risen & we remortgaged to a better deal, so we were payng about £200 less than renting the equivalent.

That was in 2014, I'd already been priced out of my original home in Zone 3 and could see it happening again where we are now in Zone 6.

We were very lucky with our timing and did benefit - that £9k deposit became £70k towards a house 3 years later as prices rose a lot & we'd paid off some of the mortgage. We bought in the same area though, so if we'd have had enough income & deposit to buy our house instead of the flat in 2014 we'd have a much smaller mortgage. Unfortunately we are seeing friends move away as they are priced out of the area now, even though they've saved far bigger deposits than we had when we first bought.

I think it is useful to think of shared ownership as being like long-term rent. you don't really own the property, but also you can't be kicked out or have the rent suddenly go up like you can in a private rental.

so if you have no other way to buy, then it could be a good idea to go for it. It will give you long-term security in a good area with the potential for the value to go up.

Are you talking about Abbeywood? I quite like it round there.

I would avoid shared ownership if you can though

Yes AW - everything is completely out of our price range by around £100k unless he want to go in one of the tower blocks.....!

Go for it- there are some things to be aware of with S/O, but overall, a way to start your property ladder journey (an estate agent told me this the other day).

For me, it may well be the only way I can own something and I will be delighted if and when it finally happens!