Funds lent to housing associations are used to build new social housing and improve the quality of social housing, giving tenants the opportunity to access good quality homes.
The figures from the BSA showed:
- Building society lending to housing associations totalled £2.0 billion in 2006, compared to £1.5 billion in 2005, representing an increase of 25%.
- Over £7.3 billion in loans were outstanding to societies from housing associations at the end of the year.
- Building societies had a market share of 44% of gross lending to housing associations in 2006.
“Even though building societies only account for 18% of total mortgage lending, 44% of loans to housing associations are from building societies. At a time when property ownership is increasingly moving out of financial reach of many people, social housing is of critical importance. Helping all groups of people get the home that they want has always been a key objective of building societies, and these impressive figures demonstrate societies putting this into practice."
The Barker Review identified a need for an additional 23,000 social homes to be built each year over current levels to meet current demand and to make inroads into the social housing backlog. According to the Review, this would require an investment of £1.6billion each year.
Building societies are key players in delivering affordable housing throughout the UK. Half the lenders participating in the government's Homebuy scheme are building societies, while many societies also have schemes of their own designed to allow first-time buyers the opportunity to purchase a home.
