Barratt Developments in talks to sell part of shared-equity loan book | Business | guardian.co.uk

Barratt Developments in talks to sell part of shared-equity loan book | Business | guardian.co.uk

Barratt Developments, one of Britain's biggest housebuilders, has raised a "For Sale" sign over some of its shared-equity loans, issued to struggling homebuyers in recent years to help them build sufficient deposits to get a mortgage.

The group is in talks with potential buyers for some of these loans, most of which have been depreciating in line with falling UK house prices.

Barratt, which will deliver its full-year results next month, is understood to have about £170m of shared-equity loans on its balance sheet. For the year to June 2010 it nearly doubled the number of such loans on its books, advancing £77.5m to help buyers build their home-equity deposits. At the same time, however, it wrote down the value of its shared-equity portfolio by £27.7m to £136.3m