Updated 20.02.14
L&G Agrees £40m Loan to Thames Valley Housing
Legal & General (L&G) has announced that it has agreed a £40 million, 25 year debt facility to Thames Valley Housing Association (TVHA), one of the largest housing associations in London and the South East, as it continues to grow its presence in the sector as part of its commitment to investing in the UK's housing infrastructure.
Secured by schemes in Hammersmith and Tooting, providing high quality key worker accommodation for Imperial College NHS Trust and St George's Healthcare NHS Trust respectively, the loan will be used to support TVHA's ongoing development activity, enabling it to build over 500 new units of affordable housing.
It is believed that this is the first time that institutional finance has been provided to the housing association sector where it has been specifically structured and secured against key worker accommodation.
TVHA owns or manages over 14,500 homes, including traditional rented housing,shared ownership, key worker and student accommodation. As part of this, working with NHS Trusts in London and the South East, TVHA currently provides key worker accommodation to eight NHS Trusts, including Imperial College, St George's and Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital in Oxford.
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Sanctuary Group Secures Landmark Deal With the EIB
Sanctuary Group has secured a landmark finance deal with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the first of its kind in the sector.
The £350 million loan from Europe's long-term lending institution will help finance Sanctuary's development programme, underpinning the construction of thousands of new homes across England and Scotland over the next three years.
This agreement between 96,000-home Sanctuary and the EIB is the first direct loan between the European Investment Bank and a UK housing association.
Sanctuary intends to use the loan to fund the remainder of its affordable homes programme, which will see the delivery of 5,000 units by March 2015. The finance will also take Sanctuary into its 2015-2018 housing programme.
A non-profit making organisation, the EIB shares common objectives with Sanctuary - both are driven by the need to improve social impacts, generate sustainable growth and create employment opportunities, making the new partnership an ideal match.
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Notting Hill Housing Raises £250m Via New Bond Release
Notting Hill Housing Trust has issued a new public bond, raising £250 million over the next 40 years at a margin of 98 basis points (bps) above the gilt.
The Secured Bonds are due to mature on 20 February 2054, with an all-in yield of 4.472%. The joint book runners to the issue are Barclays, Lloyds and Santander.
The proceeds of the issue will be used both to refinance existing debt facilities and also to finance the Issuer's development programme, that will include approximately 1,400 new homes being built each year until 2020. These will comprise new homes for social housing, shared ownership, market rent and market sale across London.
Posted 04.02.14
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins published (03.02.14) final allocations for this year's New Homes Bonus payments, totaling over £900 million, which will be shared among England's 353 councils.
The announcement means that since the New Homes Bonus began in 2011, councils will be receiving funding for delivering 550,000 newly-built homes and conversions, including over 160,000 affordable homes, and for bringing 93,000 empty homes back into use.
These final allocations bring the total given to councils since the scheme's launch to over £2 billion.
The New Homes Bonus is an incentive for communities and councils to say 'yes' to new development in their area. It is a permanent part of the local government finance system and matches the additional Council Tax raised for new homes and empty homes brought back into use for 6 years - with extra cash for new affordable homes.
Councils are then free to use that funding as they see fit to benefit their local area - from providing new facilities, to protecting frontline services or simply freezing Council Tax.
