Shared Ownership continues to play an important role in helping people access homeownership. But in a challenging new homes market, we need to keep asking ourselves a simple question: how can we do it better?

Inspire New Homes founder Asha Agarwal was recently invited to join the Leaders Panel at the National Shared Ownership Campaign Annual Workshop 2026, alongside Vikki Walker, Chris Bowen and Stephanie Ramsden, with the discussion chaired by Amy Nettleton.

The panel tackled some of the bigger questions facing Shared Ownership today: the misconceptions surrounding the product, what customers really understand, whether greater flexibility is needed and what Shared Ownership might look like if we were designing it from scratch today.

For Asha, one theme sat at the heart of the conversation: we need to look at Shared Ownership through both a commercial and a customer lens.

Start with the customer

We work with Shared Ownership every day, so terms such as initial shares, staircasing, resales, service charges and lease obligations are familiar to us.

For someone buying their first home, they may not be.

One of the biggest opportunities for the sector is to make Shared Ownership easier to understand from the beginning.

Customers should know what they are buying, what their ongoing costs and responsibilities could look like and what happens if their circumstances change.

That means clearer marketing, simpler communication and greater transparency throughout the entire sales journey.

We need to think beyond getting homes sold

Sales performance matters. Homes sitting unsold create financial pressure for providers and can impact the viability and delivery of future homes.

But successful sales performance isn’t simply about generating leads and securing reservations.

It starts much earlier.

Understanding the local market, customer demand, affordability, pricing, product, tenure and competition should all help inform how a development is brought forward and ultimately taken to market.

Sales and marketing shouldn’t be an afterthought at the end of development.

They should be part of the conversation much earlier.

What happens after the sale matters too

One of the questions raised during the Leaders Panel was whether Shared Ownership should become more flexible when an owner’s circumstances change.

It is an important conversation because people’s lives don’t stand still.

Jobs change. Families grow. Relationships and financial circumstances change.

If we want customers to have confidence in Shared Ownership, we need to think about the whole ownership journey — not simply the point at which somebody receives their keys.

That includes the experience of buying, living in, staircasing and eventually reselling a Shared Ownership home.

Let’s talk about Shared Ownership differently

The sector also needs to consider how we communicate the product.

Shared Ownership can be complicated, but our communication doesn’t have to be.

Rather than expecting customers to understand the language of housing, we need to get better at speaking the language of our customers.

That means listening to the questions buyers repeatedly ask, understanding where they hesitate or disengage and using those insights to improve our sales and marketing strategies.

Better customer understanding can ultimately lead to better commercial outcomes too.

Collaboration across the sector is essential

One of the strongest takeaways from the National Shared Ownership Campaign Annual Workshop was the passion across the room to keep improving.

Housing associations, local authorities, developers, sales teams, brokers, solicitors and other partners all influence the Shared Ownership journey.

No single organisation can improve the experience alone.

We need to share what is working, challenge what isn’t and be prepared to evolve.

Shared Ownership already helps many people take their first step into homeownership. The opportunity now is to make the product, sales journey and customer experience even stronger.

Bringing the commercial and customer lens together

For Inspire New Homes, these conversations go beyond the customer journey.

Our focus is on accelerating new homes sales performance and making sure there is a viable route from development through to sale, occupation and successful handover.

Too often, sales and marketing expertise enters the conversation once homes are approaching completion. By that point, important decisions around product, pricing, tenure, specification and positioning may already have been made.

Asha believes that expertise needs to come into the development conversation earlier.

“I look at housing delivery through a commercial and customer lens. My experience is in making sure there is a viable route from the homes being developed to them actually being sold, occupied and successfully handed over. Increasingly, I think that expertise needs to come into the development conversation much earlier.”

Asha Agarwal, Founder of Inspire New Homes

In a difficult sales market, this becomes even more important.

For housing associations, local authorities and developers, delivering homes is only part of the equation.

We also need to understand demand, affordability and the customer; establish the right pricing and proposition; create an effective new homes sales and marketing strategy; and ultimately turn interest into completed sales.

The earlier that commercial thinking starts, the greater the opportunity to reduce sales risk and improve outcomes.

About Inspire New Homes

Inspire New Homes is transforming the new homes market in real estate, with a sharp focus on accelerating sales performance.

We work in partnership with local authorities, housing associations and developers to optimise every stage of the sales journey.

From early development and sales strategy through to pricing, marketing, customer experience, sales delivery and handover, we bring together the commercial and customer lens needed to turn housing delivery into successful sales.

Our aim is simple: to help our partners sell homes more effectively, reduce sales risk and deliver better outcomes for organisations and customers.

Need support with your new homes or Shared Ownership sales strategy? Get in touch with Inspire New Homes.

📞 07398 992 228
🌐 www.inspirenewhomes.co.uk