State agency provides €285m in loans to housebuilders   

Home Building Finance Ireland supported the delivery of 1,307 homes in 21 developments last year

A total of €285m in finance was approved to homebuilders last year by the State agency established to fund the delivery of new homes. 

The latest annual report of Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) shows the financial assistance provided to construction firms helped to support the development of 1,307 homes across 21 developments in 2020.

HBFI was established by the Government in late 2018 to help plug a gap in finance available for builders at market rates. It has approved total funding of €395m for 1,850 homes since its inception.

The average loan facility is €10m, although funding has ranged from €1m to €94m, and around two thirds of all funding has been used to build private housing and a third for social housing. 

The loan rate across all projects has ranged from 5% to 9% with an average of just under 7%.

HBFI chairperson Marie Collins said the agency was able to respond to funding shocks and had responded during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Its chief executive, Dara Deering, said it was well on track to deliver its target of supporting the development of up to 7,500 homes over five years. HBFI said borrowers had repaid €20m in loans last year.

The annual report shows that a third of the HBFI’s 27 staff, who are employed by the National Treasury Management Agency, are paid over €100,000, and the chief executive earns a total of €312,000 including a basic salary of €250,000. HBFI said it paid no performance-related bonuses for 2020.