MyChoiceHomeBuy

New Build HomeBuy MyChoiceHomeBuy Social HomeBuy First Time Buyer London Wide

In April 2008 the Government made changes to the Open Market HomeBuy scheme, launching MyChoiceHomeBuy.

MyChoiceHomeBuy is a flexible equity loan scheme that aims to help people secure 100 per cent funding of the value of their first home. It is aimed at those with a maximum household income of £60,000 a year, enabling them to buy their own home on the open market.

MyChoiceHomeBuy is part-funded by the Government and offered by eight housing associations, each of which is an equity loan provider in its own right.

Key features:

• You can borrow between 15 and 50 per cent of the property price in the form of an equity loan. The remaining share of the property is paid for using a conventional mortgage from a range of lenders. You don’t have to pay a deposit but you can if you want to.
• If you qualify for a mortgage of £120,000, for example, you could buy a property worth up to £240,000, depending on your circumstances.
• You pay a monthly interest charge on the equity loan of up to 1.75 per cent a year.

The equity loan can be repaid at any time and must be repaid when you sell the property. When you do this you must share any increase in the property’s value with the loan provider. For example, if you had a 40 per cent equity loan on a £200,000 property, you would have borrowed £80,000. If you sell the property for £300,000, you would still owe the equity loan provider 40 per cent of the value, so would have to pay back £120,000.

To find out whether you qualify for MyChoiceHomeBuy, contact the HomeBuy agent in your area or one of the eight housing associations funding the equity loans. The eight are:

• Aldwyck Housing Association (Herts)
• Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association (Beds, Cambs, Peterborough and West Suffolk)
• Catalyst Housing Group (Berks, Bucks, Milton Keynes & Oxon)
• Metropolitan Housing Trust (East, North & West London)
• Moat Homes (Kent, Essex, Sussex)
• Swaythling Housing Society (Hants)
• Thames Valley Housing Association (Surrey)
• Tower Homes (SE and SW London)

Before deciding to buy a property it is strongly recommended that you talk to one of our specialist mortgage consultants to get a clear idea of some of the costs of home ownership.