To staircase or sell

7firearcade

We own a 50% shared ownership 1 bed flat in London and are looking to move on pretty pronto although we've only been there for a year - it's small, neighbours are a pain, and we'd like to move further out. Also, luckily, it's gone up by 80k in value since we bought. Our options are:

1. Staircase to 100% and then sell. This was our long term plan when we bought, and we can happily afford to do this without having to put any additional money down and are eligible for the larger mortage.
2. Sell our 50% stake. The HA would have 8 weeks to find a buyer, after which point we'd be free to market. If we could do this, then our plan would be to simultaneously staircase and sell 100% of the property.

My basic financial analysis suggests that we could actually be about 5k better off just selling the 50% stake. We have 55k in equity as it stands, and if we buy the other 50% our early repayment charges will be enormous and we'll have to pay stamp duty (which we didn't when we first bought) as well as 2 lots of soliticitors fees. If we sell now then our early repayment charges will be small (mortgage is only 110k) and our only other cost will be solicitors fees.

BUT I have no idea whether it's worth it to avoid the process of potentially trying to sell just 50% and having the HA, who are as useless as they could possibly be, involved.

Has anyone been in a similar position? Are there any factors I'm not considering, or additional costs? Any and all advice would be great! Thanks!

AnotherJoe

You have probably got a bigger market at 50% ownership than 100%, presumably being able to afford the cheaper entry price is what attracted you to it in the first place. People who could afford to buy your 1 bed at 100% might be looking at 2 beds at 50% instead, for example.