Shared-ownership schemes which were once the preserve of key workers are becoming increasingly popular among first-time buyers, it has been suggested.

According to housing association Notting Hill Home Ownership, private developers have even started offering their own versions of the schemes to draw first-time buyers into the market during an unstable economic period.

"The impact of the credit crunch has made shared ownership one of the very few options available to first-time buyers," the association's Mark Vaughan remarked to The Observer.

"Many reports say first-time buyers should just hold off buying altogether, but some people are seeing increases in their private rent and feeling ever more squeezed as a result," he continued.

He concluded that as shared ownership represents good value for money when compared with renting, there remains "big demand" for it.

The government's own Rent to HomeBuy scheme, launched last month, enables low earners to rent a property at a discount of up to 80 per cent for two to three years.

Intended to give them time to save for a deposit, the initiative offers such individuals the option of buying their property at the end of the rental term.