b"Our analysis of the impact of First Homes is that if its about democratising home ownership, it doesnt work. You need a salary of at least double what youd need for shared ownership to buy even a discounted first home at 60, 65, 70% of value. (Interviewee 6)One provider commented on the role that shared ownership plays in supporting the speed of development on large sites because it adds market diversity to a scheme, but felt that First Homes was aimed at a similar group of buyers to the open market homes and that the pace of build on a development would slow as a result:There's also the impact on how other homes are sold. The Letwin review, looking at the reasons development is slow on large sites is because of the sales rates, identified that affordable housing helps in that because it all gets pre-sold and the affordable housing, because it's discounted, goes quickly. And the risk is that First Homes are being sold to similar people that are buying the market homes. So it actually slows down the market homes. And then if there's lots of them, can you actually sell market homes because do people just go around buying the First Homes? (Interviewee 2)2.6Impact of the pandemicAll interviewees were asked about the impact of the pandemic on the shared ownership sector. The most immediate impact had been an increase in demand for shared ownership lending and in enquiries about buying a shared ownership home. Some interviewees noted that demand was strong across all sales:Weve had our strongest reservations and sales period since March across both sales and shared ownership. (Interviewee 4)A lender noted that shared ownership had been particularly resilient after the lockdown, with a lot of pent up demand in the system:Of all the sectors that we operate in, shared ownership has been really resilient. It bounced back quicker than some of the others that we operate. And it still remains strong. (Interviewee 9)For shared ownership, there were reported to be far more enquiries than there were properties available:16"