Diane Sawyers never dreamed she’d be able to afford her own home. “I’d been unemployed and living on benefits for 17 years,” she says, “but I never gave up. I was fortunate to get a great job eventually, which gave me a regular income and helped me to pay my debts off.”

Now, thanks to the HomeBuy scheme, she owns her own three-bedroom house which she shares with her two teenage sons.

“I lived in a rented accommodation for 15 years and knew that it was ‘dead money’,” she says. “I was desperate to find another option to help me get my own home.”

Then a friend told her about the HomeBuy shared equity loans and she contacted Mercian Housing Association – the HomeBuy Agent in the West Midlands – to see if she qualified. She did. 

“Because with HomeBuy you only need to have 75% mortgage, it made it possible for me to have a bigger house at an affordable price.”

She and her sons couldn’t be happier, she says. “Sometimes I sit at home and need to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.”