Wales Property Development Fund to Receive £30 Million

27th September 2017

The Federation of Master Builders (Cymru) has today announced the intention of the Welsh Government to give £30 million of investment to the Wales Property Development Fund in a bid to support small and medium-sized Welsh construction businesses in their search for accessible financing to build new housing.

The move has been welcomed by the FMB Cymru, who suggest that Welsh builders have been struggling to access affordable finance options for the past few years. Research from the FMB has highlighted concerns in the industry for small housebuilders, and also comment that the same issues are being experienced by small construction businesses in English counties too.

The director of FMB Cymru, Mr Ifan Glyn said, 'Nearly ten years on from the financial crisis, small housebuilders are still facing serious problems in accessing the finance they need to build new homes. Recent research from the FMB shows that the lending conditions for SME developers were down slightly from 2016, the first fall in this measure since 2013. More than half of small housebuilders over the border in England say accessing finance is a major barrier to their ability to build more homes and we know that this issue is also constraining output for Welsh builders.'

According to Mr Glyn, it is part of a plan by the Welsh Government's Economic Strategy that the Government should do more to help SMEs tackle housebuilding issues to break into the market. The FMB Cymru has pledged to work closely with the Government to find more ways to work together to deliver the homes that are much-needed throughout Wales.

Access to affordable finance is a growing problem across the whole of the UK, and with housing shortages at a premium, the FMB feel that this investment and discussion is a real move in the right direction.

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