Housing minister Mark Prisk has invited bids for a share of at least £400m to build homes specifically for private rent.
The funding is part of the £1bn Build to Rent fund, which offers support for developers and investors looking to get into the private rental market.
Prisk said this new scheme, alongside up to £10bn in government housing guarantees, will encourage people to invest in this ‘untapped’ private rental market and result in greater choice and quality of homes for prospective tenants.
One scheme has already been given the green light, with work already started on the site at Southampton’s Centenary Quay development.
Prisk said: “The housing market is turning the corner, with starts up a third compared to last year and over 25,000 households helped into home ownership since 2010.
“But I want to go further, which is why I’m inviting bids for a share of up to half a billion pounds to help build a bigger, better private rented sector.”
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Comments
This is a great initiative but we've found it doesn't help the small developers with sites for flats that they want to build out to sell to investors, who will rent them out.
These smaller developers don't qualify for the Government funding and banks are still unlikely to lend on a flatted development, which means loads of smaller projects are stalled and causing hardship for developers, while the vast firms the size of Barratts and Taylor Wimpy cash in on this scheme.
Please, Mark Prisk, take a look at providing some initiative to unlock all the small sites to get these projects funded and built to provide homes for first time buyers or buy to let investors.
Lance Trendall
The Land Office