Housing Secretary greenlights £1 billion support for builders
Millions of pounds in new loans will be paid out to support builders in small and medium-sized firms, the Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP has confirmed in an announcement to Parliament.
The British Business Bank’s ENABLE Build Programme will shortly begin guaranteeing millions in new loans for local, independent construction businesses to deliver new homes.
Following the credit crunch in 2008 figures show that only 1,737 small to medium size builders operate in England, with more needed to help respond to the demand for new homes. The £1 billion guarantee scheme set-up by the government ensures enough credit is available to allow smaller housebuilders to enter the market. Small housebuilders often struggle to access affordable finance.
Robert Jenrick MP, Housing Secretary, said:
“Today I am giving the green light to a scheme that will help to fix this. Supporting £1 billion of new loans so that local builders can kickstart building, level up the country and turbocharge the housing sector.”
Reginald de Monchy, Managing Director, Guarantee and Wholesale, British Business Bank, said:
“The ENABLE Build programme is a great example of using a cross-government approach to tackle an important, complex issue.
“Working in partnership with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Homes England to address both access to finance and the UK housing shortage, the ENABLE Build programme will allow us to build on our ENABLE Guarantee’s success in supporting smaller housebuilders that have traditionally struggled to access the funding they need.”
Since the scheme opened for applications in May 2019, the government has received interest from specialist and mainstream lenders – including high street banks – which want to be involved in this innovative scheme to deliver homes.
Propertymark Lobbying
Propertymark continues to lobby Government on the issues that are important to our members, and the industry as a whole.
Kindly shared by NAEA Propertymark
