Ministers Donohoe & Murphy welcome progress on the establishment of Home Building Finance Ireland

30th January, 2018

The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, and Minister for Housing, Planning & Local Government, Eoghan Murphy TD, today (Tuesday) welcomed the approval by the Government to proceed with the legal drafting of the Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018.

Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) was announced in October as part of Budget 2018 and will be designed to increase the availability of debt funding to commercially viable residential development projects in the State.

Funding of up to €750 million from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund will be made available to HBFI for the establishment of the fund. Through the utilisation of existing skills and expertise already available to the State in NAMA, projects are expected to commence with minimum delay, maximising the greatest potential for early delivery of homes.

Minister Donohoe said: ‘I am pleased with the decision to progress with the drafting of this important piece of legislation. Home Building Finance Ireland will provide a welcome boost to developers with viable sites who are experiencing difficulty in obtaining funding’.

“This is a priority piece of legislation and officials in my Department will now progress the drafting with relevant stakeholders and the European Commission with a view to publication in the coming months and the commencement of operations later this year.”

Minister Murphy added: “This is an important initiative with the potential to provide the necessary financial support, in particular for small and medium-sized developers and builders, to maximise the capacity in the building sector to deliver new homes, especially in our urban areas where the demand and affordability challenges are greatest.”

ENDS 

Notes to Editors:

HBFI will be established as a company with limited liability under the Companies Act with the Minister of Finance as sole shareholder at incorporation.

Staff will be provided on a seconded or service-level agreement basis with NAMA. This will ensure that the considerable expertise and skills amassed through NAMA’s existing residential funding programme can be harnessed by HBFI and that staffing levels can be allocated commensurate to the level of demand for lending from developers.

HBFI lending will be on commercial, market-equivalent terms and conditions and would depend on the risk profile of each project, the quality of collateral and the creditworthiness of the borrower.

Sites eligible for lending must have full planning permission, be under the control of the borrowers, have a minimum delivery capacity of 10 units and be commercially viable to develop.

Subject to successful passage of the Bill and competition considerations, it is envisaged that HBFI will be established with a view to the commencement of lending activity in H2 2018.