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Buying a Private Property in Shared Ownership Social Housing Project? Worth it?

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Andy87

New Member
Hello - great to meet you all!

I'm a first time buyer in London and have come across a newly built 2 bedroom flat currently for sale. I'm interested in this flat for different reasons:
  • The development is in Leyton (E10 - East London) which is where I live already so I know the area very well. I love living here, the commute into London is a dream and I've experienced myself how the area has changed for the better in the past 4-5 years. Leyton compared to London in general is still an affordable area and I do see potential long-term from an investment point of view as well.
  • The flat is newly built, comes with allocated underground parking slot, and a balcony overlooking the London skyline. The appliances etc in the flat are brand new which is what I prefer. The flat was listed originally at £480K, but that's been dropped today to £465K. It's a flat I can afford purchasing if I want to.
Now to my concerns:
  • The building itself has been developed by Newlon Housing Trust (charitable not-for-profit housing association). This development consists of 61 shared ownership appartments and 12 private sales appartments. My interest is in one of the private sales appartments. I've never lived in a Social Housing building before and I'm unsure how good an investment this would turn out to be in the future? Are Shared Ownership Housing Projects the modern equivalent of Council Estates? Or am I thinking about it the wrong way?
  • I have plans to move abroad in the next 3-4 years for a longer period. In this period I would be looking to rent out this property. Again: Would this be a good investment from a letting point of view?
The development is called: NEST, E10 (in case anyone wants to have a look).

Any insights that you can share would be highly appreciated as I'm no expert on this.

Thanks,
Andy
 
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diyhelp

Active Member
It sounds a terrible thing to say but I would be careful when acquiring private property within a building containing shared ownership apartments (social housing?). I presume these apartments are owned by Newlon Housing Trust?
 
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