A new report –  ‘Putting Finance First: The alternative route to funding Britain's SME housebuilders’– by LendInvest has focused on three proposed initiatives that combine existing government-backed funding with the expertise of alternative lenders.

 The proposed initiatives aim to speed up and increase the availability of finance to property SME businesses.

LendInvest’s three proposed initiatives are:

• Homes England should deploy its £2.5bn Home Building Fund through funding lines agreed with alternative lenders
• local authorities should co-invest with alternative lenders in local developments, utilising the Public Works Loan Board mechanism to provide discounted capital for SMEs
• the British Business Bank should appoint more alternative lenders to use the ENABLE guarantee programme to underwrite property investment and development loans.

 “Every week we could lend more to SME housebuilders that are struggling to obtain finance, if the government worked with us to help fund those developers,” said Christian Faes, co-founder and CEO at LendInvest (pictured above).

•   LendInvest funds Glasgow church conversion
•   LendInvest launches new product transition process for developers
•   Government to invest almost £300m to deliver thousands of homes

“The government is clearly trying to get more homes built across the UK.

“However, the government needs to work with alternative lenders, like LendInvest, to help get critical funding to SME housebuilders.

“Our proposals offer commonsense solutions to a major market crisis, using tools that government already has at its disposal.”

LendInvest’s report included contributions from:

• Mark Prisk MP, former housing minister and member of the communities and local government select committee
• Brian Berry, CEO of the Federation of Master Builders
• Jiri Król, deputy CEO and global head of government affairs at the Alternative Credit Council
• Nick King, former special adviser to Sajid Javid MP.

“I fully concur with the strong case put forward by this report for improving access to finance for small developers,” said Brian.  

“Above all, I warmly welcome the contribution that this report makes to an important conversation around the different ways in which government (both central and local) can work with private sector lenders and developers to build a healthier housebuilding industry in this country.”