NatWest Group to invest £5bn in social housing

NatWest Group is to lend £5bn to support the delivery and maintenance of social housing in the UK. The package will cover three years from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026. The bank, which lent nearly £3bn to UK social housing during 2023, said it would help housing associations deliver a pipeline of new homes and improve living conditions in existing properties. Robert Begbie, chief executive, commercial and institutional banking, NatWest Group said: “Against a backdrop of inflation and rising living costs, pressures on the housing sector and homeowners have increased. “These increasing costs reduce the capacity to deal with other priorities such as new and upgraded housing, and tackling the critical challenges of energy efficiency, fire and tenant safety. “In 2023, we completed nearly £3bn of new funding to help more people and families have access to housing. We support around 200 housing associations across the UK and are proud to announce our ambition to provide a further £5bn in funding to support the housing association sector by the end of 2026.”