Hundreds of thousands of homes will be delivered through a new government-backed ‘housing bank’ backed by private sector investment, the government has announced.
The National Housing Bank, a subsidiary of Homes England, will be publicly owned and backed with £16 billion of financial capacity, on top of £6 billion of existing finance to be allocated this Parliament, to accelerate housebuilding and leverage in £53 billion of additional private investment, creating jobs and delivering over 500,000 new homes.
Homes England, the national housing and regeneration agency, will be able to issue government guarantees directly and have greater autonomy to make the long-term investments needed to reform the housing market and deliver strong returns.
The government said the National Housing Bank will “act as a consistent partner to the private sector, bringing the stability and certainty that housing developers and investors need to make delivery happen”. It will also support SMEs with new lending products and enable developers to unlock large, complex sites through infrastructure finance.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said: “This government is delivering reform and investing in Britain’s renewal through our Plan for Change. Our foot is firmly on the accelerator when it comes to making sure a generation is no longer locked out of homeownership – or ensuring children don’t have to grow up in unsuitable temporary accommodation, and instead have the safe and secure home they deserve.”
The Bank will deploy some of the £2.5 billion in low-interest loans announced at the Spending Review to support the building of social and affordable homes.
It builds on £39 billion investment announced at the Spending Review for a new 10-year Affordable Homes Programme, which is the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation, supporting our Plan for Change milestone to build 1.5 million homes.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, added: “The Bank will help unlock a wide range of sites, including larger ones which struggle to get up front lending given their risk and complexity, using a mixture of equity investment, loans and guarantees to leverage global institutional capital into UK housing, reducing risk at the early stages of development.”
