Propertymark wants more clarity and detail on a proposed £550m investment in housing revealed yesterday by Sir Kier Starmer.

The Prime Minister announced that investment consultancies Schroders, Man Group and Resonance would launch new impact investment funds, to go into housebuilding.

“We’ve said as a government we’re going to fix the foundations, rebuild our country, and expressly saying ‘now is the time to back us’. Companies and investors are coming in today saying ‘here’s half a billion pounds’. We want to raise that, by the way, I want that to be up over £1 billion before too long” Starmer told the BBC.

In response Nathan Emerson, Propertymark chief executive, said: “Impact investment funding is certainly one innovative method that can help unlock the potential for new homes across the country, especially as many developers have pledged to support this measure. However, it would be good to see more detail behind these plans as this may help to deliver the ambitious target of nearly two million homes that the UK Government has pledged to build by the end of this parliament. 

“We eagerly await more details in the UK Government’s upcoming Budget about how any housebuilding will be funded, alongside a timetable for the enactment of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that intends to reform the planning system to make it easier to build these desperately needed homes.”