As the first ?millennial? Secretary of State for Housing (he was born in 1982), Robert Jenrick will be only too aware of the difficulties many of his generation face trying to buy a house. It comes as no surprise then that he has continued the government's drive to increase the number and quality of homes and open up the market to first-time buyers.

In their recent consultation on making home ownership more affordable, the government looked at ways of improving and increasing shared ownership. Ideas included allowing homeowners to increase the proportion of the property they own, which is known as staircasing, in one per cent increments (which they argue would be easier than the current ten per cent), removing the landlords? pre-emption clause and replacing it with a right of first refusal, and a standardised model for all providers (both private- and publicly-funded) to increase mortgage lending.

In our response we pointed out some of the practical difficulties with the proposals - especially the costs involved in staircasing by one per cent  compared to the relatively small reward - while welcoming the aim of increasing the use of shared ownership. There is already a good number of mortgage lenders who will lend on shared ownership properties but if there were more properties out there and a simpler, standard lease it may encourage new entrants or boost lending by existing players. Key to that will be getting private providers involved. For lenders to be comfortable with this we need to ensure they provide the assurances registered providers of social housing currently do - both legally through the model lease, and also in their attitude towards homeowners.

New ideas put forward on Monday (a combination of right-to-buy from housing associations with shared ownership at just ten per cent of the property value) may be a complication too far but lenders look forward to more discussion about the future of shared ownership. It is an established approach with room to grow and may be part of the solution to low-cost home ownership once Help to Buy ends.

The UK Finance Annual Mortgage Conference takes place on Wednesday 6 November. Topics will include The View from the Regulator, The Changing Shape of the Mortgage Market & Emerging Trends to 2025, LIBOR to SONIA transition, Mortgage Regulation, and Housing Supply. Visit the event webpage to learn more.