The BSA believes the most important action Government could take to increase the size of the shared ownership market would be to commit significant capital funding to a long-term pipeline of developments. There have been numerous false dawns where it appeared that shared ownership would take off as a tenure in its own right, only to have funding scaled back or for new affordable housing schemes to be announced which crowded out shared ownership developments.

 

There is a clear opportunity for private shared ownership (PSO) providers to tap new funding sources from institutional investors such as insurers and pension funds. It is important that in seeking to open up this market, however, that Government does not lose sight of the good work that has been achieved over a number of decades to standardise shared ownership documents and processes and embed these across the housing association sector.