NatWest Group has announced a progress update on its ambition to provide £5 billion in new lending to the UK social housing sector, with the bank confirming £2.8 billion has been provided up to 31 August 2024.
As explained in the update from UK’s NatWest Group, this progress means the bank has been able to support more delivery and maintenance of housing within the sector, which is important to the people and families who rely on social housing along with the broader economy.
NatWest Group says that it intends to support home building within the sector across the UK, with notable projects and partnerships delivered by the bank including a sustainability linked loan to Bromford, a housing association based in the Midlands.
The loan will reportedly aim to help Bromford build 1,300 new affordable homes across the West Midlands and West of England.
NatWest has been a key strategic funding partner of Bromford for a number of years.
The bank has also committed to improving the supply chain skills which its customers may need to help drive retrofit projects across the UK, and last year launched a partnership with Supply Chain Sustainability School to help deliver this.
This aims to help by sharing knowledge and nurturing the skills needed to retrofit homes and buildings across the UK.
This should help raise standards across the industry, as well as boost confidence for those considering investing in retrofit.
NatWest has also supported Leeds Federated Housing Association Limited (LFHA), which reportedly owns and manages more than 4,500 social homes across the Leeds city region.
One of the housing association’s goals is to deliver 150 “affordable quality” new homes by 2026.
In March of this year, NatWest had provided a £55 million loan to help LFHA deliver new homes and offer working capital for its stock improvement program which includes achieving “an EPC ‘C’ rating or better for every home by 2030.”
Paul Thwaite, CEO of NatWest Group, said that the United Kingdom actually needs more homes.
Paul explained that this is why NatWest is committed to boosting house building through its strong pipeline of lending to the sector.
Paul also noted that they are making good progress, and are ahead of their targer to provide £5 billion in lending “for UK social housing by the end of 2026.”
Paul added that this lending will help to deliver more homes, stimulate local economies and provide more stability to individuals and communities throughout the United Kingdom.
Matthew Rose, Director of Treasury at Bromford, said that they exist to provide safe, affordable homes to people who are reportedly “unable to access them through the market.”
Matthew explained that their loan from NatWest allows them to continue their development program to meet their goal of “building 11,000 new homes by 2032 with 65% at social and affordable rent tenures.”
Paul further noted that their relationship with NatWest resulted in Bromford completing their “first sustainable linked loan in 2019.”
Paul also mentioned that this focused on improving the energy efficiency of our homes and has helped to enable their decarbonization journey with 89% of their homes “at EPC C or above as at 31 August 2024.”
