Co-ownership uptake extremely low in Derry

The total number of purchases under the Co-Ownership programme between 2016 and 2021 was 110 in Foyle and 55 in West Tyrone.

There were 4,701 purchases across the north as a whole.

The 110 applications in Derry accounted for two per cent of this total while the wider Strabane area accounted for a miniscule one per cent.

The greatest uptake was in Upper Bann (684), South Antrim (432), Lagan Valley (417) and North Down (403).

The housing minister Deirdre Hargey released a breakdown of Co-Ownership homes delivered by constituency over the last five years in response to an Assembly Question.

The scheme is a joint public/private initiative between the Department for Communities and Co-Ownership, a not-for-profit organisation that says its goal is to help people get onto the property ladder who cannot do it by themselves.

“Co-Ownership is NI’s regional body for shared ownership. We are a registered housing association and industrial & provident society regulated and funded by a combination of private finance and the Department for Communities. We are governed by a Board of Management, made up of non-executive directors elected from the shareholders. Board members are unpaid volunteers,” it states.