Kier Living and heylo housing have agreed a new contract under their existing partnership to expand the availability of Home Reach, heylo’s part-rent, part-buy solution, to customers across six additional sites.
With Home Reach previously available on other developments, the new deal will mean more of Kier’s homes are affordable to a wider group of buyers.
heylo’s Home Reach scheme is a part-rent, part-buy funding model designed to increase sales volumes of market-sale properties for housebuilders by enabling higher levels of home ownership with a wider pool of buyers.
Using the scheme, developers build and sell homes with customers purchasing shares of up to 75% of the open market value and heylo acquires the landlord’s position within the transaction.
Home Reach is newly available to buyers at various Kier Living sites including Alston Grange in Longridge, Lancashire, Simpson Park in Harworth, South Yorkshire and Taylor Green in Darwen, Lancashire on a selection of two, three and four-bedroom homes.
heylo will convert 84 private-sale homes into a part-rent, part-buy alternative, providing buyers with an additional route to home ownership while allowing the developer to benefit from the advantages of heylo’s part-rent, part-buy model.
While Help to Buy requires a 5% deposit on the price of the whole home, Home Reach only requires a 5% deposit based on the size of the share purchased.
In addition, with Help to Buy’s criteria changing, it provides a real alternative for those looking to buy a home who cannot afford to do so in the traditional way.
Housebuilders can market selected properties for the share price rather than the full value of the home, with the aim of reaching a wider audience on property portals and enabling access to specialist shared ownership portals.
At the same time, the housebuilder retains full control of the customer journey and benefits from customer satisfaction surveys.
Wayne Bennett, director of Home Reach, said: “With the Chancellor announcing extensions to both the stamp duty deadline and the furlough scheme, not to mention a new mortgage guarantee scheme, we’re optimistic that the property market will maintain momentum for some time to come.
“However, economic conditions look more uncertain for the long-term, which will impact on buying power.
“We believe that solutions such as part buy – part rent are the key to widening the customer base for housebuilders and enabling people to purchase a home of their own. For lenders, a part buy – part rent option, backed by a registered provider, is very appealing as it lessens and spreads the risk for all parties in what could be a challenging time.
“Even customers who have been forced to dip into their savings recently might find they can afford a deposit on the share of a new home and get onto the ladder.”
Liz Green, sales and marketing director at Kier Living Northern, added: “I’m thrilled that we’ve been able to extend our partnership with heylo and continue to help people get on the property ladder.
“The scheme has enabled us to reach a wider pool of potential customers and make buying a property much more affordable. We’re selling a range of properties on our developments through the initiative, meaning families that have been unable to afford a spacious home now have the opportunity to do so.”
Home Reach is partnering with over 80 housebuilders in England, including many of the top 20 by volume.
