A new government-backed National Housing Bank could unlock £53bn of private investment and drive the construction of over 500,000 new homes.
The publicly-owned bank will be a subsidiary Homes England and comes armed with £16bn in financial firepower to galvanise house building.
Developers will benefit from a mix of loans, equity and guarantees to unlock stalled and complex sites, while SME builders will get new lending products and revolving credit to boost their pipeline.
The National Housing Bank will be classed as a Public Financial Institution with powers to issue government guarantees directly.
It is being pitched as a long-term delivery partner to help steady a volatile housing market and ramp-up supply.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “We’re turning the tide on the housing crisis we inherited… our foot is firmly on the accelerator when it comes to ensuring a generation is no longer locked out of homeownership.”
A £2.5bn low-interest loan pot will help accelerate social housing builds, alongside a 10-year £39bn Affordable Homes Programme aimed at delivering 1.5 million homes. The wider strategy includes £5bn in grant funding to unlock infrastructure-heavy and unviable sites.
The Bank will also back mayoral housing funds in London and Greater Manchester, where new regional investment vehicles will help deliver tens of thousands of homes in the next decade.
from Construction Enquirer https://ift.tt/h9qjmP6