LendInvest calls on government to remove SME housebuilding barriers

LendInvest calls on government to remove SME housebuilding barriers



Online mortgage lender LendInvest has urged the government to remove the obstacles hindering property development SMEs.


The request follows the Building More Homes report released in July by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee that was also backed by the National Housing Federation. 

That report highlighted the importance of government intervention in the property development market.

LendInvest has produced a list of recommendations for the government to prompt an increase in SME developers in the UK and thereby assist in solving the housing shortage.

The recommendations included: 

•    ensuring land is not unnecessarily banked and that larger developers pass on their unused land to SMEs
•    publishing data on land pricing, option agreements and ownership
•    prioritising SMEs in the release of public land to the private sector
•    providing more capital to SMEs in the form of state-backed schemes 
•    supporting the alternative finance industry
•    launching an initiative to develop skills for property developers
•    incentivising property development as an entrepreneurial opportunity.

In its submission to the Communities & Local Government Committee, LendInvest said: “The government has a real opportunity to reinvigorate the market by putting homebuilding front and centre of its industrial policy.

“It is not enough, however, to set ambitious housebuilding targets without addressing the challenges in the sector that are preventing developers from delivering the targets that the government aspires to achieve. 

“Instead, measures should be taken to address the shortages in land, opportunities for finance and the lack of skills in the sector to truly get Britain building.”



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