To fulfil local housing requirements, local authorities are often able to release green belt land on the edge of towns and villages for development. This is done on the understanding that the properties built there will be high quality, exclusively for local people, and offered for sale at prices significantly below their normal open market value.

The sale prices vary from one Local Authority to another. As an example, in the District of Kerrier in Cornwall, one of our 3 bedroom houses is selling for £135,000 which is around 70% of the open market value of a similar property in Four Lanes where the property has been built.  We aim to sell all of our properties at anything between 75% - 50% of the open market value but the final discount will always depend on the value of a similar open market property in the local area.

You, as a First Step home buyer, are a home owner in every sense of the word and are free to sell the property at a future date and in so doing, release your share of its value. If you want to sell your house and the market value of a similar house in your area has gone up during your period of ownership, your investment will rise by the same percentage amount as the open market house has during the same period of time.

Unlike other schemes such as Shared Ownership where there is a rent to pay, First Step Homes sell you the freehold of the property. The price is simply discounted by the Local Authority to a level which is deemed to be affordable to local people, and this discount is then fixed in perpetuity.

There are restrictions on who can purchase these properties, and you must be able to demonstrate that you are unable to afford to purchase a suitable home on the open market and have a genuine local connection to the parish in which the development is being built. Any future purchaser will also have to adhere to these criteria, which will be audited by the Local Authority.