I am in a similar situation myself and have started looking into shared ownership.
Luckily for me i live in birmingham where there are quite a few new builds available and shared ownership options available.
Waterloo housing will let me buy % upto the full 100%, so depending on what the bank say's might consider 25% at the moment just to get on the ladder and see how the market works out and buy some more % if prices drop.
Either way i feel it is better than renting and if i do go for the 25% option than it is not a very large amount if circumstances change and my morgatge repayments including rent to waterloo for their share work out to what i am currently paying in rent every month but have nothing to show for it!