Westbury Homes is joining the growing list of housebuilders who are promoting their own shared ownership and low cost housing initiatives to encourage first time buyers into the market. The scheme requires buyers to finance 75% of the cost, with Westbury picking up the remaining 25% and no deposit needed. Colin Cole, Westbury’s executive director, explained: "After ten years the property is valued and the 25% is paid back to us. If the owners move within that time we value the property and the 25% is paid back whether it is more or less than the original cost." <p></p><p>But the scheme is not set to run permanently, said Cole: "We first ran it in January and it was very successful but it comes at a cost so we took a break. We’ll probably run it a few weeks and see what response we get. If it is popular we’d like to carry it on." </p><p>The scheme comes on the back of the government’s plans to extend shared equity initiatives into the private sector, with first time buyers being given the option of buying shares in their homes, with the remainder being funded by the Treasury, banks or developers. Barratt and …