It's not as straightforward as one would like DJKQ "Jonathan Glancey is right to welcome the allocation of 25% of the flats in the Strata tower at Elephant and Castle as "affordable" homes (Spin city, G2, 19 July), but all is not going smoothly with the realisation of this policy. A friend of mine is trying to buy/rent one of these units and finding that mortgage lenders are not yet convinced about the value of the flats. A private house-building firm would normally have lined up some mortgage banks keen to lend, but the housing association in this case leaves it up to purchasers. So, effectively, the "affordable" flats will only become affordable once lenders are persuaded that the housing association has not in fact priced them at above lenders' estimates of their market value."