For-profit signs up Vistry to boost shared ownership drive

Sage, which is majority-owned by private equity giant Blackstone, has delivered around 11,750 homes covering shared ownership, affordable rent and social rent since its launch in 2017. It is aiming to have delivered 30,000 homes by 2030.

Three separate for-profit entities are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing: Sage Homes RP, Sage Housing and Sage Rented.  

Under the Home Stepper scheme, buyers will acquire their home from Vistry, at which point Sage will become their landlord and collect rent.

To qualify for Home Stepper, buyers’ combined household income must be no more than £80,000 outside London, or £90,000 inside London. Buyers can acquire a share between 10 per cent and 75 per cent, with a 990-year lease.

Sage is also talking to other house builders about the scheme. 

Iain McPherson, chief operating officer at Sage Homes, said: “Our new Home Stepper scheme aims to make the shared ownership product available in more locations to more aspiring homeowners looking for attractive and high-quality homes to call their own.”

Mr McPherson is the former chief executive of Countryside, who left the firm suddenly early last year. 

Greg Fitzgerald, group chief executive at Vistry, said: “We have a long track record of working in partnership with Sage Homes to deliver affordable homes and to realise the house-buying dreams of thousands of customers, and this is the latest exciting chapter in that relationship.”  

Last November Vistry, formerly known as Bovis Homes, completed a £1.27bn acquisition of its rival Countryside.