National statistics

Social housing sales and demolitions 2021-22: Shared Ownership

Updated 26 January 2023

Applies to England

1. Headline figures

From 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022:

17,221

initial tranche Shared Ownership sales were completed by large registered providers and local authorities, an increase of 37% compared to 2020-21. 16,870 were by large registered providers and 351 were by local authorities.

^{[footnote 1]}

An estimated 76% of Private Registered Provider Shared Ownership sales were to first time buyers

The completion of some fields in CORE Sales ^{[footnote 2]} is not mandatory, and some missing information on mortgage and deposit is imputed during data processing. For the purpose of this release, analysis of financial figures only includes sales that have no missing data following imputation in market value, initial equity stake, mortgage value and deposit. In 2021-22 this totalled 14,309 entries. The averages given in this section refer to the arithmetic mean unless otherwise stated.

Unless otherwise stated, values quoted in this release will report on Shared Ownership, Older People’s Shared Ownership (OPSO), Social HomeBuy Shared Ownership, Home Ownership for People with long-term disabilities (HOLD), Rent to Buy Shared Ownership and the 2021 Shared Ownership model as a combined figure.

This statistical release reports on the initial sales (or first tranche) of shared ownership dwellings, and characteristics of these purchases. Data on the number of fully staircased sales, i.e. those where the tenants have reached 100% equity, can be found in the main Social Housing Sales and Demolitions report.

2. Characteristics of Shared Ownership purchases

Shared Ownership is a scheme targeted at first-time buyers who cannot afford the full market cost of a property. In 2021-22, an estimated 76% of Shared Ownership purchases were made by first time buyers with over 69% of all Shared Ownership purchases by people under the age of 40 and 35% under the age of 30.

In 2021-22, an estimated 56% of purchases were made by one adult households, the highest proportion since 2010. 27% of purchases were made by households of 2 adults, while 10% were made by households with children. Further historical data is available in Live Table 696.

Figure 3.1 Household composition of Shared Ownership purchases from 2009-10 to 2021-22

The average market price was £296,300, up by 8% compared to 2020-21 with a mean initial equity stake of £120,500. Overall, the average initial equity stake was 42%. The average deposit was £20,800, an increase of £3,100 compared to 2020-21, the highest value since 2015-16.

The graph below shows that over the last 13 years, the average (mean) price of Shared Ownership properties has increased from £164,600 to £296,300, an increase of 80%. Between April 2009 and March 2021, the UK house price index increased by 77%, showing that the price change of Shared Ownership properties generally tracked the wider housing market. In this same time period, the average equity percentage obtained by buyers remained relatively steady between 37-43%. Further data can be found in Live Table 697.

Figure 3.2 Average market value and average equity of Shared Ownership purchases 2009-10 to 2020-21

3. Delivery of Low Cost Home Ownership schemes

In the section below, the term “Low Cost Home Ownership schemes” is used as an umbrella term for Shared Ownership and Affordable Home Ownership because before 2014-15 it is not possible to separate Shared Ownership from other Low Cost Home Ownership delivery.

In 2021-22 there were 19,386 new Shared Ownership properties delivered, an increase of 14% compared to 2020-21, and the highest recorded number since Shared Ownership delivery was recorded in 2014-15. Of these 19,386 Shared Ownership properties 18,751 were new build ^{[footnote 3]}.

The graph below shows how the delivery of Low Cost Home Ownership properties has changed over the course of the last 31 years ^{[footnote 4]}. As can be seen from the chart, since 2015-16 there was a continuous increase in the number of Shared Ownership properties delivered, with the first decrease in 5 years seen in 2020-21. This decrease may be due in part to the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021-22, the number of Low Cost Home Ownership properties delivered was similar to 2019-20. These values exclude First Homes, which was introduced in 2021-22.

Figure 3.3 Delivery of Low Cost Home Ownership properties 1990-91 to 2020-21, England

1. Figures sourced from Statistical Data Return and Local Authority Housing Statistics. These two providers do not provide full coverage of the Shared Ownership market. ↩

2. The COntinuous REcording of social housing sales is a data collection run by DLUHC to collect information on sales of properties by registered providers of social housing. It does not capture all Shared Ownership sales. ↩

3. All figures in this section are sourced from the Affordable Housing Supply statistics. ↩

4. Low Cost Home Ownership does not include First Homes. ↩