The government has announced the opening of a competition for a 拢400m second round of the 拢1bn Build to Rent fund
Speaking at the Resi conference in Newport, housing minister Mark Prisk said the government had opened the second round due to market interest, and that a minimum of 拢400m would be made available.
He said: 鈥淭oday I can announce the second round of the Build to Rent Fund is open for business. We鈥檙e really looking for new business models to emerge from the bids we鈥檒l see.鈥�
The first round of the Build to Rent fund, which is designed to support developers of homes for private rent, was massively oversubscribed, with 45 schemes ultimately chosen to receive a share of 拢700m.
Prisk said the announcement showed the government鈥檚 desire to see real growth in the private-rented sector, which he now said was seeing 鈥渘ot just interest, but real deals鈥�.
Bids have to be tabled by October 31, with a prospectus and application form available on the Homes and Communities Agency website.
Prisk also defended the government鈥檚 Help to Buy programme despite fears it will lead to a property bubble, and the intervention of Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable yesterday, who said the roll out of the second phase of Help to Buy may have to delayed because of the risk of the market overheating.
Prisk told 黑洞社区: 鈥淭he government is very clear that neither the equity loan or the guarantee element of the programme are of the scope to cause a bubble.
鈥淭he government is focused on looking at the impact, but we鈥檙e five months in and so the tales of doom and gloom are somewhat premature. Remember Help to Buy represents just 2% of all housing transactions.
鈥淭he greater danger would be to go back to the bad old days of 100% mortgages and self certification mortgages. Those days are over.鈥�
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