However, rising house prices in the capital mean even this kind of “affordable” housing is getting more expensive. The three-bedroom flat in a new award-winning development near fashionable Old Street in Hackney is valued at £1,025,000, with buyers offered a minimum stake of 25%.
The advert for the sixth-floor flat, which is being sold by Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association (Isha), says priority will be given to local authority and housing association tenants, ministry of defence workers and people who live and work locally to Hackney.
We recognise that the home highlighted is out of reach to many of the households we prioritise to assistClare Thomson, Isha
But the housing association estimates that to afford a 70% mortgage on the £256,250 share, and have enough money to pay a rent on the remaining 75% of the property as well as the monthly service charge, would-be buyers would need a household income big enough to afford more than £2,400 a month in housing costs. A mortgage calculator on the Share to Buy website where the property is listed suggests it is unrealistic that a large enough loan would be granted to anyone with a household income of less than £77,000. The median salary in the borough is £31,000.