Established sector funder sets out £5bn lending ambition over three years

It added: “This lending should help the housing associations sector to deliver a pipeline of new homes and improve living conditions in existing properties, thus improving the availability and quality of social housing in the UK. Alongside the construction of new properties, this lending could also help housing associations finance energy efficiency and environmental solutions, such as retrofits.”

The announcement, on Monday 25 March, is the bank’s latest “signal of support” for the housing association sector, it said, after issuing a €1bn affordable housing social bond in February 2021.

Those bond proceeds have now all been spent and were used to finance or refinance loans to not-for-profit registered providers in the UK. 

NatWest told Social Housing it had “no current plans” regarding further social bond issuances earmarked for affordable housing.

As at 31 December 2023, NatWest’s total outstanding loan book to UK housing associations stood at circa £15bn.

Recent loans to the sector have included £70m to Northern Irish housing association Choice Housing, and £96m to Aberdeen-based Grampian Housing Association to finance the development of 1,000 new homes in the region.

Robert Begbie, chief executive of commercial and institutional banking at NatWest Group, said: “Against a backdrop of inflation and rising living costs, pressures on the housing sector and homeowners have increased. These increasing costs reduce the capacity to deal with other priorities such as new and upgraded housing, and tackling the critical challenges of energy efficiency, fire and tenant safety.

“In 2023, we completed nearly £3bn of new funding to help more people and families have access to housing. We support around 200 housing associations across the UK, and are proud to announce our ambition to provide a further £5bn in funding to support the housing association sector by the end of 2026.”