Family Building Society has invested £10m in a fund targeting the development of affordable and social housing for rent across the UK, joining Swiss investment bank UBS and Aberdeen Investments in backing the Matter Real Estate vehicle.
The fund aims to finance the construction of more than 6,500 homes, 3,700 of which are already under construction. Matter Real Estate self-develops or backs joint ventures building homes for families, including key workers, and has already supported residential developments in Leeds, Sheffield and an award-winning street regeneration project in Liverpool.
"We see this as part of our social obligations to help families find affordable homes, as well as having the potential to generate an attractive return for our members," said Mark Bogard, the society's chief executive.
"In Liverpool, for example, developers backed by the fund have bought up old derelict streets of terrace houses, brought them up to a high standard, and then successfully rented them out, positively changing the character of these streets."
Family Building Society has operated a similar model in London for some time. "We at Family Building Society have long had a partnership with a private developer in London to do exactly that, as we believe involving private equity in the refurbishing or repurposing of old residential buildings, as well as new build, is an innovative way of helping solve the housing crisis," Bogard said.
With the government pushing to deliver 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament, he argued the wider industry should take note. "With the Government struggling to reach its target of building 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament it is fresh ideas such as this which the housebuilding industry as a whole should be considering."
