Family Building Society, which was launched in 2014, has invested £10m alongside UBS, a Swiss investment bank, and Aberdeen Investments in a fund that is run by Matter Real Estate. The aim of the fund is to self-develop ventures in building new homes across the UK for families, including those of key workers.
The fund is hoping to finance the building of over 6,500 flats, with 3,700 already under construction. Matter Real Estate has backed residential developments in Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool in an award-winning regeneration of a cluster of streets.
Mark Bogard, the society’s chief executive, said: “We see this as part of our social obligations to help families find affordable homes, as well as having the potential to generate an attractive return for our members.
“In Liverpool, for example, developers backed by the fund have bought up old derelict streets of terrace houses, brought them up to a high standard, and then successfully rented them out, positively changing the character of these streets.”
Bogard continued: “We at Family Building Society have long had a partnership with a private developer in London to do exactly that, as we believe involving private equity in the refurbishing or repurposing [of] old residential buildings, as well as new build, is an innovative way of helping solve the housing crisis.
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“With the government struggling to reach its target of building 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament, it is fresh ideas such as this [that] the housebuilding industry as a whole should be considering.”
This comes after MPs said the developer levy to deliver affordable housing is not working.
