According to the Federation of Master Builder’s (FMB) Cymru, the Welsh Government’s pledge to invest £30m into the Wales Property Development Fund to improve access to finance for SME developers will boost house building
Ifan Glyn, Director of FMB Cymru, said: “The announcement is welcome and will assist SME builders that want to build new homes but are struggling to access affordable finance.
“Nearly ten years on from the recession, SME developers are still facing serious issues when accessing the finance they need to build new homes.
“Recent research from the FMB reveals 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 house builders 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.”
Glyn added: “It’s good news that the Welsh Government is doing more to assist SMEs in entering, or re-entering, the house building market.
“This was a key plank of the Welsh Government’s Economic Strategy, published earlier this week, and it’s right that enabling smaller firms to build more homes has edged up the priority list.
“Indeed, FMB Cymru recently signed a pact with Welsh Government to address ways in which Government and industry can work closer together to deliver the additional homes that we desperately need.”
