11 January 2002
By March 2001, a total of £23.2bn had been lent to registered social landlords by banks and building societies – up from £19.7bn at the end of the previous financial year.
Just under half – £9.7bn – was lent to associations set up following stock transfers – up from £7.2bn one year earlier. Of the remainder, £8.4bn was raised by large RSLs with more than 5,000 homes.
The private finance market continues to be dominated by four major lenders. By March 2001, Nationwide had committed £3.4bn to housing associations, followed by Halifax (£2.6bn), Royal Bank of Scotland (£2.5bn) and Abbey National (£2.4bn).
Between 1999 and 2000, the level of lending to RSLs rose from £16.9bn to £19.7bn. But the number of lenders appears to be contracting, possibly as a result of uncertainty over the effects of rent restructuring as well as the specialised nature of the housing market.
'Private finance facilities have, in the past, been provided by over 100 institutions,' said a report published this week by the National Housing Federation and the Housing Corporation. 'The market [now] is dominated by a relatively small number of lenders.'
PFjan2002
