This is Shared Ownership Week and in and around the Scarborough area, there’s never been a better time to take up one of these opportunities.

Just at the moment there are lots of shared ownership properties on the local market – for example in Hinderwell Road and the new Middle Deepdale development in Scarborough, Field Lane at Scalby and in East Ayton, Cayton and Filey – and I have been busy recently helping people to get themselves a new home in this way.

In case you don’t know, shared ownership is, as the name suggests, a deal in which you buy a share of the property’s value – maybe 25, 50 or 75% – and pay rent on the rest. You can then always buy a greater share later, potentially owning the whole of the property one day.

For many it can be a cost-effective way of getting on to the property ladder, maybe for first-time buyers or others who might find it difficult to take out a large mortgage for a home that suits their needs. Instead they just have to find a deposit for a mortgage on their initial share of the property whilst the property company retains ownership of the rest.

Then, if your finances improve you can buy up more shares – called staircasing – until potentially you own the property outright. It is worth remembering that when you add further shares they will be at the market rate of the property then, not when you bought the original shares, so the price may have gone up.

Shared ownership schemes are open to anyone who doesn’t currently own a home and can work out cheaper than renting a property, with the advantage being that you can choose from properties that are often nice, quality homes, in good locations. And of course you can always sell your share.

Legal and General say there could be up to a million households in a position to take up a shared ownership and some housing associations report that they have ten prospective buyers for each shared ownership unit.

The Government is very keen to encourage home ownership through shared ownership. It wants to see a million people into home ownership through its initiatives by 2020 and wants to see 135,000 new shared ownership homes delivered by 2021.

To help, the Government’s 2015 Autumn and Spending Review statement confirmed £4.1bn for 135,000 Help to Buy: Shared Ownership starts by 2021. It also raised the income cap eligibility from £60,000 a year to £80,000 (£90,000 in London).

First port of call is to check with the vendor on your eligibility, then I can help find you the best mortgage for your shared ownership purchase.