Small house builders to benefit from £1 billion in government loans

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has confirmed a £1 billion government guarantee scheme to support small- and medium-sized house builders.

The money aims to provide credit for small house builders to enter the market, which has becoming increasingly dominated by larger organisations since the 2008 credit crunch. The scheme aims to encourage smaller builders back into the sector to combat the UK’s shortage of housing, and meet the government’s commitment to delivering 1 million new homes over the next five years.

Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

Small housebuilders are vital to building the homes this country needs but too often struggle to access affordable finance.

“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.”

Housing Minister Rt Hon Esther McVey MP added:

When it comes to building houses, we mean business – this fund will give everyday lenders the confidence needed to do deals with smaller builders which get shovels in the ground.”

House builders will be able to access the loans from participating banks, which will be be guaranteed by the British Business Bank’s ENABLE Build Programme, which opened to applications in May 2019.

Reinald 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 house builders that have traditionally struggled to access the funding they need.”