Under the FLS the Bank of England will lend money to financial institutions at below-market rates to stimulate lending to homeowners and businesses.
Raymond Connor, chief executive of BuildStore Financial Services, says: “The benefits of allocating £1bn to the self-build sector would be money wisely spent; there is no down-side.”
BuildStore claims that lending to the self-build community, the fastest growing sector in UK housing, fits the bill, creating a positive ripple effect through the home economy, helping not only homeowners but employment at a local level as construction workers would be called upon to meet the demand for bespoke homes.
For every £1m lent Buildstore claims six new homes could be built. With the average self-build project taking a team of five construction workers a year to complete, the number of jobs created could stack up to 6,000 for each £1bn lent.
BuildStore is urging housing minister Grant Shapps, who has tirelessly campaigned for community building, to get behind the scheme.
Connor added: “I am directly appealing to Mr Shapps to join forces with self-build groups while he has the government’s attention on this issue and to encourage lending institutions to allocate funds in this way. The demand is clearly there for self-build so let’s get the money aimed where it can do most good.”
