Crucially, the Shared Ownership Calculator also enables users to effortlessly 'stress test' their borrowing against future rent and interest rate rises, or service charge changes — even letting them drill down into individual years to see the full monthly impact.
The ability to ‘staircase' to 100% ownership of a property is integral to shared ownership's appeal, but to date staircasing calculators have simply provided a Yes/No estimate of whether purchasing an additional share is affordable.
The Shared Ownership Calculator, by contrast, enables users to see the full financial cost of staircasing multiple times and at any point in a mortgage, helping them to plan a strategy to reach their full ownership goal.
The new tool has been launched at a time when more people are now eligible for shared ownership following the raising of the income limits to £90,000 for London and £80,000 for elsewhere in the UK.
Natasha Brown, Founder, Shared Ownership Calculator, commented: "When I looked into the possibility of shared ownership myself, not only did I feel I was getting a hard sell from various housing associations but it was incredibly difficult to understand the overall cost, especially when it came to the prospect of staircasing to full ownership, which is what buying a home is all about. I also felt there were no tools available to help me stress test my ability to maintain payments when circumstances change in the future, which they invariably do.
With certain other calculators, the 'What ifs' and potential risks facing borrowers seemed to be an afterthought rather than something that’s integral to the purchase process. With house prices still very high in certain areas of the country and income limits also recently increased, shared ownership is only likely to gain in popularity. Hopefully this calculator will help people to better understand the full financial impact and risks before they commit."
