'Impossible' to calculate market value for affordable housing

Infrastructure minister responds to Tynwald question

Government says it doesn't know how many homes meet the 'affordable housing' criteria on the Isle of Man.

The infrastructure minister's been responding to a written Tynwald question.

The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 defines affordable housing to mean “housing which is either directly provided by the Department, directly provided by Local Authorities or meets the criteria for the Department’s House Purchase Assistance Scheme 2004."

Tim Crookall says it's 'impossible' to calculate a market value for affordable housing because it depends on location, condition and a number of other factors.

However, he says the prescriptive selling price of each category of affordable housing types is £150,000 for a 2 Bed apartment, £175,000 for a 2 Bed house and £185,000 for a 3 Bed house.

Of those directly provided by the DOI, there are currently 1276 affordable homes which are all classified as 'general needs' public sector housing while there are 4,538 provided by local authorities.

Mr Crookall also shared the number of assisted purchases under the current Shared Equity opportunities, which show 34 people made use of the Fixed Scheme in the last financial year - up by 10 on the previous year - while two used the Choice Scheme.