The Intermediary – September 2026 - Flipbook - Page 50
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
Leeds plays the
long game
A
small piece of
mortgage product
innovation landed
quietly in the market
this month, and it
may well have gone
unnoticed by most.
Leeds Building Society lowered
its minimum Shared Ownership
purchase criteria to 10% and will lend
up to 95% on the share.
I know what you’re thinking: big
deal. The lending will be tiny, and the
proc fee even smaller, so why bother?
But I’ve got a different view, and
I’ll bet it’s the reason Leeds – a great
supporter of the Shared Ownership
market – made the change. It’s all
about the long game.
They’re looking for ways to make
homeownership, particularly
in London and the South, more
affordable. And smartly, they are
aracting buyers at the very start
of their property journey, who will
be unable to remortgage away until
they own at least a 25% share in the
property. That’s plenty of time to build
trust with their borrower and earn
their loyalty so when they can leave
more easily – they don’t.
Nurturing relationships
We’ve noticed that nurturing has
been a recurrent theme that’s
They are attracting
HELEN PIERSON
is director at MAB New Homes
buyers at the very start of
their property journey,
who will be unable to
remortgage away until
they own at least a 25%
share in the property.
That’s plenty of time to
build trust with their
borrower and earn
their loyalty”
cropped up in our conversations
throughout the summer as the market
remains subdued.
We’ve been talking about nurturing
relationships with builders, focusing
on the nurture journey of clients who
can’t proceed straight away or, in
this case, helping borrowers take the
smallest step onto the housing ladder
with a long-term view of growing
their ownership share.
The Government lowered the
minimum purchase share to 10%
in April 2021 but it has had limited
impact on buyers because, until now,
the move was not supported by lenders
– most of whom have a 25% minimum
share restriction in their criteria.
There’s probably not a lot of money to
be made on a 95% mortgage of a 10%
Shared Ownership property – and
whether you agree with that aitude
or not, lending money is a business –
not a charity.
Advice opportunity
But Leeds has looked beyond that and
has become one of the only lenders to
support the Government’s now fiveyear-old policy change, brokers should
do the same.
10% Shared Ownership borrowers
still have protection needs that
I’d argue are more pressing than
other buyers. We tend to find that
those purchasing lower shares may
have jobs they feel more vulnerable in.
They’ll also need advice around
staircasing too which will present
many opportunities for regular
conversations.
In the toolkit
Keeping homeownership within shooting distance
48
The Intermediary | September 2026
As will discussions, maybe, about
how they’re increasing their credit
score now they’re homeowners and
how they can push it even higher to
improve their chances of purchasing
on the open market.
This understated change of criteria
may well have tiptoed into the market
and perhaps it won’t receive a massive
take up. But it’s one more tool in
advisers’ kits, one more solution
to the problem of unaffordable
homeownership and one more reason
to call our clients. ●
