Leading housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) has won a coveted First Time Buyer Readers’ award during this year’s ceremony, which took place at the Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square on Friday 3rdSeptember 2021. The housing association was crowned the winner in the ‘Affordable Housing Provider of the Year’ category thanks to its mission to provide accessible shared ownership homes to first time buyers through its SO Resi brand.

The housing association is behind the MY Resi Upton Square development in Upton, Northampton.

The award aims to recognise an organisation that has shown innovation in the way it designs, builds and markets its properties, as well as the variety of services it provides in helping first time buyers onto the property ladder. MTVH was judged based on its shared ownership homes alongside its affordable rent and open market sales; its constant innovation, including conducting research into shared ownership with Cambridge University to shape its offering; and its strategic, dynamic partnerships to promote shared ownership.

Kush Rawal, Director of Residential Investment at Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, comments: “Throughout the past year, we know that first time buyers in particular have been hit hard, so it is more important than ever before to support young people in becoming homeowners. Our dedicated shared ownership brand SO Resi focuses on providing homebuyers with the knowledge they need to buy a home through shared ownership, and we are continually innovating to ensure we challenge the marketplace and explain every aspect of shared ownership with complete transparency.

“We are so pleased that our efforts have been recognised at the First Time Buyer Readers’ Awards, and hope that we can continue to provide vital information to those aspiring to get onto the property ladder.”

Now in their 12thyear, the First Time Buyer Readers’ Awards celebrate the companies and individuals that have gone above and beyond to help first time buyers get a foot onto the property ladder. Leading members of the property industry attended the event, as television duo Jonnie Irwin (the face of A Place in the Sun and Escape to the Country) and Nicki Chapman (best known for Escape to the Country) reunited to present the awards, which recognise the best of the best in the property industry.