Northern Ireland Co-Ownership Housing is set to receive a £19 million portion of the £50 million allocated to the Department of Social Development last week as a result of the Department of Finance and Personnel's December Monitoring Round on public spending in 2007/08.

North Down and Ards MLA Simon Hamilton said the news was “extremely welcome” for the constituency.

“The release of additional money by the Finance Minister Peter Robinson for the co-ownership housing scheme is extremely welcome news in an area like Ards where gaining access to the property ladder has proven almost impossible in recent times for first time buyers,” said Mr Hamilton.

“In July of last year, Newtownards was found by the Halifax to be the United Kingdom's property hotspot with average house prices of nearly £230,000. That sort of price for a home was out of the reach of many first-time buyers and illustrates the need for a scheme like co-ownership to be well resourced so that more and more people can have the opportunity to realise their dream.

“I am aware that already this year, some 61 properties have been purchased through the co-ownership scheme in the Newtownards area and I hope that these extra resources, along with the increase in the price limit to allow properties of up to £225,000 to be bought under the scheme, will see many more people in the Ards buy their own homes”.

Alan Crowe, chief executive of Co-Ownership Housing, said that the money would allow them to “deliver an extra 200 homes over the next three months”.

“For many first time buyers, co-ownership is the only viable option to achieving that elusive step onto the property ladder, and the £19m in additional funding reflects the continuing high demand for our services,” said Mr Crowe.

“We are currently operating at twice the level of government targets for 2007/08. Over 700 homes have already been occupied through co-ownership in the nine months from April to December 2007, over 300 more have been agreed for purchase and are awaiting completion dates, and applications for a further 125 homes are being currently being processed.

“We are backing local buyers with an average of £85,000 per property and the additional £19m is a response to our request for extra funding for the last quarter of 2007/2008 to meet this surge in demand.

“We are also actively in discussion with government about funding from April 2008 onwards, as no let up in demand is expected.”