What are the best alternatives to renting or buying a home?

Alternative housing options available to first time buyers

For anyone with their eyes set on owning a home in London, the increasing price of rent has made that dream a bit more complicated. However, saving up to buy a home in London doesn’t need to take you an eternity. With an affordable renting or buying scheme, you can take that important first step towards homeownership!

Looking to save some more cash towards your first apartment? Here are some of the best affordable renting and buying schemes that you should be taking advantage of:

Shared Ownership

If you want to take the next step after renting, but can’t quite afford to buy your first home on the open market, Shared Ownership could be for you! This part-buy part-rent scheme enables you to buy a share of your dream home, while renting the remainder on a subsidised basis. In other words, it’s a fantastic middle ground between renting and buying, helping you own a share of your home without paying an unrealistic price.

Want to find out more? Find your dream Shared Ownership home in London using our property search tool.

Intermediate Rent

Intermediate Rent might just sound like a level of difficulty, but there’s nothing difficult about saving money on your rent. Directed at first time buyers who are finding it difficult to raise enough money to buy, Intermediate Rent makes it possible to rent a home for up to 20% less than would be expected on the open market. This can make a huge difference when it comes to saving up your home deposit, and can even help to fund that London lifestyle!

Rent to Buy

One of the most difficult parts of traditional renting is knowing the money you spend on rent won’t increase your stake in a new apartment. However, that isn’t the case with Rent to Buy. As the name suggests, Rent to Buy is a rental scheme that also sets you up to own a home in the future. Why? Because you’ll be able to rent your home on an Intermediate Rent basis, paying a 20% subsidised rate on your rent. This will free up some extra cash to help you save up for a Shared Ownership home, should you wish to buy one.

First Homes Discount

Looking to make the step up from renting to buying? You’ll struggle to find a better deal than the First Homes Discount. When you first embarked on your property search, you may have found that certain areas were out of your price bracket. However, the First Homes Discount makes it possible for first time buyers to live in areas they love, with a discount anywhere from 30% to 50% of the property’s value! To make you feel even more secure about buying, these homes cannot amount to more than £250,000 – or £420,000 in London – once the discount has been applied.

Deposit Unlock

Let’s face it – no one really enjoys that age-long period of hunkering down to save a deposit. But with Deposit Unlock, you can kiss this lengthy timeline goodbye. This is a scheme that allows eligible buyers to buy a shiny new build home with as little as a 5% deposit. But how, you might wonder, is this even possible? This is where your home builder comes in; they insure the mortgage that you take out, helping you to get a better loan from lenders when purchasing your new home!

If you are looking for a more affordable alternative to traditional renting, Share to Buy can help. On our website, you can take advantage of many different affordable rent schemes, or use Shared Ownership to get your home-buying journey up and running!