National Housing Bank appoints consultancy for forecasting contract

Headquartered in Leeds, it launched with a £100m partnership with Aviva. The venture’s aim is to deliver up to 3,300 build-to-rent homes in underinvested areas of cities, including an initial 300 in Liverpool and Manchester.

More widely, Homes England hopes the National Housing Bank will eventually leverage in £53bn of additional private investment over the next decade and deliver 500,000 new homes.

It will target a range of sites, including larger ones that struggle to get upfront lending due to risk and complexity.

The bank has also said it will work with mayors through Homes England’s new regional model to strengthen its ability to work with partners.

The Oxford Economics contract is the latest detail to emerge about how the National Housing Bank will run, after it revealed that its chief executive would be Simon Century, former chief investment officer at Homes England and former managing director at Legal & General.

The forecasting contract runs until June 2027, with the option to extend as far as 2030.

It was awarded following an open procurement process in which four tenders were received and assessed, the notice said.

In February this year, the director of affordable housing at Homes England told Inside Housing how for-profit providers have received a “welcome boost” in the new grant programme, with recent changes increasing parity with not-for-profits.

Amy Rees, chief executive of Homes England, said: “Both institutions have up to £46bn of capital to deploy over the next decade, including £27bn of social and affordable housing grant, a share of £5bn for land and infrastructure and up to £16bn of debt, equity and guarantees.”