Shared Equity Homeownership

The Raleigh Area Land Trust (RALT) offers shared equity homeownership opportunities to lower-income individuals and families across Wake County. Shared equity homeownership is a self-sustaining model that takes a one-time public investment to make a home affordable for a lower-income family and then restricts the home’s sale price each time it is sold to keep it affordable for subsequent low-income families who purchase the home. The model balances wealth building for families who would otherwise be unable to afford owning a home with preserving the community’s investment.

RALT does this through the Community Land Trust (CLT) model, serving as a long-term steward of land to protect permanent affordability and access to housing. The CLT model is a proven affordable housing and anti-displacement strategy that has been used successfully for decades across the country. The CLT acquires land to build homes (or rehabilitates existing homes) and then makes the homes available for sale at an affordable price to limited-income homebuyers (50-80% of Annual Median Income). The CLT leverages subsidies and philanthropic support to lower the purchase price for income-qualifying households.

How does it work?

1.

Once a home is ready, RALT sells the home at an affordable price to an eligible, qualified homebuyer household, but retains ownership of the land in trust for the community.

Ownership of the land is conveyed to the homeowner through a 99-year, inheritable and renewable ground lease. 

2.

To preserve the long-term affordability of the home, the ground lease agreement sets the resale price of the home should the owner ever decide to sell.

RALT homeowners agree to limit the amount of equity they will keep at resale so that the same opportunity and affordable price that was available to them can be made available to the next income-qualifying household.

This keeps the home affordable for generations to come and avoids rapidly increasing housing prices in neighborhoods.

3.

RALT plays an active and ongoing role in assisting and supporting homeowners after closing, leading to lower rates of foreclosures seen by CLTs across the country.

RALT homeowners gain access to supportive programs such as financial education, maintenance and repair support, and ongoing staff support to navigate homeownership.