The St. Clements redevelopment scheme in Mile End, East London has been led by Linden Homes, in partnership with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Peabody. The project provides 252 new homes, 35% of which are genuinely affordable, including 58 for ‘social rent’ and 23 community land trust homes for sale, the latter provided through London’s first CLT.
- Building at the Grade 2 listed, ex-psychiatric hospital will be completed in 2018 and the CLT began moving its residents in from June 2017
- The CLT homes are being sold at prices linked to average local incomes, resulting in £130,000 for a 1 bedroom flat, £182,000 for a 2 bedroom and £235,000 for a 3 bedroom. This is around one third of their market value
- Over 700 people expressed interest in the 23 homes at St. Clement’s, with 300 people completing the eligibility test and 108 going on to submit a final application
- Providing genuinely affordable homes in London and keeping them affordable in perpetuity presented a formidable challenge for the CLT and its advisors. Working alongside Linden Homes, they came up with a solution never before tried in the UK. This is how it works:
- The developer builds 23 homes for the community land trust
- The CLT buys each home through a back-to-back mortgage arrangement once they’re completed. Essentially, this mean each resident’s mortgage is used by the CLT to buy each home, meaning no borrowing is required by the CLT
- The sale price of each CLT home is directly linked to median incomes in Tower Hamlets, not their market value
- The developer agrees to build the CLT homes as part of its ‘Section 106’ planning obligations for affordable housing
- An independent panel, working for the CLT, selects future home-owners, based on their housing need, local connection and ability to secure a mortgage
- Each future owner raises their own mortgage finance, with help from the CLT. Their mortgage buys them 100% of the home
- The CLT resident can sell the property on to another resident identified by the CLT at any point, but only at a price linked directly to local average incomes again
- This arrangement means that resident buying into a CLT property is trading an up-front subsidy for a diminished financial return when they sell. It removes speculation from the market and keeps all 23 homes permanently affordable by local people
- More detailed information about the London CLT and the St Clements scheme can be found here.
Published in March 2018
