75% of home building fund committed to projects
Loan approvals by Home Building Finance Ireland – the Government initiative set up to fund the delivery of new homes – amounted to €539m by the end of the first half of this year.
That represented a 36% increase on the €395m total approvals at the end of last year.
HBFI has now committed just under three quarters of the €730m capital in its first two and a half years of operation.
In its latest performance update published today, HBFI said that by the end of June it had approved funding for 2,477 new homes in 54 developments in 17 counties.
193 HBFI-funded units have already been completed and sold, with a further 866 contracted for sale or sale agreed, according to the report.
Social housing projects account for around a quarter of the new homes approved for funding.
Loans from €1 million available
HBFI was established by the Government almost three years ago with the aim of making finance available for builders at market rates.
The average loan facility is €10m, although funding has ranged from €1m to €94m.
Terms of these facilities range from 12 months to 44 months, with an average of 21 months.
The majority of units funded are two and three bedroom homes, although funding is available for housing units containing one to five bedrooms.
In the past year, the fund started backing major apartment developments for the first time.
It also launched a product specifically aimed at social housing with reduced fees.
“We have widened our product range to make it easier for housebuilders to complete units quickly and get keys in the hands of people who are looking for a new home,” Dara Deering, HBFI chief executive explained.
“We recognised the challenges the sector faced due to Covid-19 and responded with a product to support continued supply of new homes,” she added.
Article Source – 75% of home building fund committed to projects – RTE – Brian Finn