Up to 1,000 homes to be delivered in the next two years
ASB is taking a proactive and innovative approach to address New Zealand’s housing shortage by introducing its Accelerated Housing Fund for affordable and social housing, which aims to deliver up to 1,000 new homes over the next two years.
ASB’s $500 million Accelerate Housing Fund was designed to alleviate financing barriers faced by residential developers, social housing investors, and for Māori housing initiatives.
The bank said it is also looking at how it can support housing initiatives with a diverse range of ownership structures, including build-to-rent and rent-to-own models.
Rebecca James (pictured above), executive general manager of business banking at ASB, said the bank is committed to enabling housing development, so they can help more New Zealanders into their own home.
“We understand that we need to think and act differently to make a meaningful impact on housing, so we’ve adjusted our key lending metrics and criteria for social and affordable housing,” James said in a media release. “We have a role to play in addressing housing supply by supporting development businesses which have the solutions New Zealand needs.
“With the Accelerated Housing Fund, we've evolved the way we lend, making it easier for affordable housing projects to get off the ground. We expect this will see about 4,000 New Zealanders living in new, warm, dry, and sustainable homes in the next 24 months.”
James said the bank is also aligning its efforts with the Reserve Bank’s initiatives to improve Māori access to capital, with a portion of the Accelerated Housing Fund earmarked for Māori housing development and investment.
The Accelerated Housing Fund will focus on lending to larger-scale projects with lower-than-average build and sales prices. It will also offer social housing investment opportunities to borrowers who have collaborated with government agencies, local councils, non-profit organisations, Iwi, or community housing providers, with access to longer-term investment funding.
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