SNG secures £50M unsecured short-term trade loan facility from Barclays to build new homes
Barclays UK Corporate Bank has provided its largest unsecured short-term trade loan facility to a housing association to date, to support housing association SNG’s ambitious plans to build 25 thousand new homes over the next ten years.
SNG, which is the second largest developer amongst housing associations in the UK, will look to use the £50 million provided by Barclays to build good, affordable homes for the millions of people impacted by the housing crises.
This deal comes as the new Labour government announced a reintroduction of housing targets, with the aim to build 1.5 million affordable new homes during the next parliament. This was the first major policy action of the new Chancellor of the Exchequer and Deputy Prime Minister, demonstrating their recognition of the crucial importance of housing to economic growth in the UK.
Jason Constable, Head of Real Estate at Barclays UK Corporate Bank said: “This bespoke short-term trade loan facility is another example of our renewed focus on supporting and lending to more businesses across the UK.
“The housing sector is a critical element of the UK economy, and we remain focused on how we can support the delivery of increased levels of new housing stock in the UK as well as supporting the retrofit agenda for our clients’ legacy estates.”
Anup Dholakia, Director of Treasury at SNG commented: “Delivering the new homes to address the housing crisis is a huge challenge but through innovative funding approaches with the private sector, like this loan, alongside new commitment from government, there is the opportunity for real progress to give people and our economy the best foundations to grow.”
With a rapidly changing social housing market and in order to meet evolving meet client needs, Barclays UK Corporate Bank has recently combined both Social Housing and Real Estate teams. By bringing these teams together, there will be a focus on opportunities to increase lending and ensure more tailored support to clients within a rapidly changing social housing market.
Barclays has been a significant supporter of the Social Housing sector for many years, with a 65% market share across the top 200 Housing Associations comprising lending, operational banking and debt capital markets.