A £75million loan for Orbit Group is taking its development and sales division, Orbit Homes, a step closer to achieving its target of building 12,000 new homes by 2020.
The five-year £75million funding agreement with HSBC will support land acquisition and development of affordable homes, as well as investment into its existing homes and communities.
With this latest agreement, coupled with a £250million public bond secured earlier this year, Orbit Homes is expected to meet its 2020 targets.
Hugh Taylor, Head of Housing at HSBC, commented: “We are very pleased to begin this new partnership with Orbit and provide a facility that will enable to them to deliver their 2020 Vision. They are a leading housing organisation with ambitious plans that go beyond meeting rising demand in the UK.”
Orbit Homes’ executive director, Paul High, said: “As a strong and ambitious developer, Orbit Homes is striving to tackle the housing crisis by providing the new homes this country so desperately needs. We have seen our development programme continue to grow over the last 12 months, and the new funding from HSBC will contribute to supporting the delivery of the much-needed affordable homes we plan to build over the next five years.”
The leading housing developer, which is part of 39,000-home Orbit Group, recently announced its pipeline of 8,418 new homes between 2015–2020. This is the second largest pipeline during that period according to a national survey of top housing association developers, published in July.
One of Orbit’s 2020 Vision targets is to build 12,000 new homes, suitable for people at all stages of their lives and levels of income, by 2020. Since adopting the target in 2013, Orbit Homes has completed more than 2,400 homes and boosted its development capacity for the future significantly. It has also moved into new areas of provision, including market rent, and grown its market sale programme, using the profits to support more affordable housing.
Sites have already been secured to develop 1,100 homes in the East of England, 2,200 in the South East and south London, and nearly 3,700 in the Midlands.
