In Inside Housing, Real Estate Partner, Neil Biswas presents the National Housing Bank (NHB) as a practical and accessible funding solution for SMEs, challenging the perception that it is primarily focused on large-scale developments.
Neil explains that while early messaging highlights the NHB’s scale and role in major regeneration, its structure is deliberately designed to address the long-standing funding barriers faced by smaller housebuilders. He highlights that the NHB operates as a bank-like, recyclable finance model, providing loans, guarantees and equity investment rather than one-off grants.
He emphasises that tools such as development lending and government-backed guarantees can improve SMEs’ access to finance by reducing lender risk and enabling more schemes to move forward. This creates a more flexible and repeatable funding environment, helping smaller developers unlock sites that might otherwise stall.
Neil also underscores the important role SMEs play in housing delivery, particularly on smaller and more constrained sites, and positions the NHB as a way to support their continued participation in the sector.
While the NHB is not intended to address all of the barriers affecting housing delivery, it offers targeted support to improve SMEs’ access to development finance.
Overall, the article frames the NHB as a practical, usable funding platform for SMEs, designed to improve access to capital and support more consistent delivery across the housing market.
The full article was published by Inside Housing in June 2026.
The announcement of the National Housing Bank/Richborough facility has attracted considerable attention. Partners, Neil Biswas and Aleem Khan examine how the funding works, how it addresses planning risk, and whether the model could be replicated for other land promoters.
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