Housing: Construction

(asked on 4th March 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government , what steps he will take to stimulate improved lending terms from high street banks to small and medium-sized house builders in England.


Answered by
Kit Malthouse Portrait
Kit Malthouse
This question was answered on 11th March 2019

The Government fully recognises the important role small and medium sized house builders (SME) play in delivering much needed housing in this country. We have already put in place a number of initiatives to help SME builders overcome barriers, specifically access to finance through the provision of the £4.5 billion Home Building Fund. £2.5 billion of which provides short term loans to SME housebuilders, custom builders and innovators. £110 million of that funding has been used to set up The Housing Growth Partnership.

Launched in 2015, this is a £220 million partnership between Lloyds Bank and Homes England and is supporting the growth of SME house builders and expansion in the UK housing stock. It will deliver 3,400 homes. In addition, the Home Building Fund has also provided £125 million for the the Housing Delivery Fund launched by Barclays Bank and Homes England, in September 2018. The £1 billion development finance Fund will help build thousands of new homes across England. Of the £1 billion fund, Barclays is providing £875 million.

A key priority of The Housing Delivery Fund is to support small and medium sized businesses to develop homes for rent or sale including social housing, retirement living and the private rented sector, whilst also supporting innovation in the model of delivery such as brownfield land and urban regeneration projects.

The Chancellor announced at Budget 2018 that the British Business Bank will deliver a new scheme providing guarantees to support up to £1 billion of lending to SME house builders. My Department and Homes England are currently working with the British Business Bank to implement this scheme.

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