National Housing Bank Agrees First £35m of Loans to Unlock 2,500 Homes in Salford, Bromley and Ludlow

England's newly created National Housing Bank has moved from launch to delivery, announcing its first wave of regional lending. On 9 July 2026, Homes England confirmed three loan deals totalling £35m to support housing and regeneration in Salford, Bromley and Ludlow, together intended to unlock around 2,500 new homes. The announcement offers an early signal of how the institution intends to target the finance gaps that have stalled development across the country. ## A new public finance institution moves into delivery

The National Housing Bank opened for business earlier this year as a permanently capitalised, government owned subsidiary of Homes England. Its early activity has been closely watched by the property sector as a test of whether the new structure can move quickly and flexibly.

Homes England presented the latest deals as evidence of pace, noting that the schemes cover infrastructure, brownfield redevelopment and town centre regeneration in areas where access to finance has been a constraint.

• • Launched 1 April 2026, headquartered in Leeds
• • Provides debt, equity and guarantee products
• • Wholly owned by Homes England, backed by government

Plans for around 2,500 new homes and vital regeneration work across three places in England have been boosted by National Housing Bank agreements totalling £35 million.

Homes England and National Housing Bank, GOV.UK, 2026

Where the money is going

The three deals span very different types of scheme, from a large brownfield regeneration in the North West to a town centre redevelopment in London and support for a smaller regional builder.

• • Salford: a £14m infrastructure loan to Scarborough Group and Metro Holdings for site preparation, enabling and design works at Middlewood Locks, paving the way for up to 1,900 homes on brownfield land.
• • Bromley: a £10m infrastructure loan to Tikehau Capital to support the redevelopment of the Walnuts Shopping Centre in Orpington, including 440 homes.
• • Ludlow: an £11m development finance loan to SME housebuilder Pickstock Homes for the third phase of a scheme delivering nearly 90 homes.

The scale of the ambition

The £35m package is modest against the bank's overall remit. The institution has up to £16bn of financial capacity to deploy and is intended to help unlock more than £53bn of private investment over the next decade, supporting the delivery of more than 500,000 homes.

Industry bodies have welcomed the flexibility of the new lender while cautioning that its success will ultimately be measured by completed homes. Propertymark noted that development finance, infrastructure and support for smaller developers are all essential if consented sites are to become finished homes.

The first regional deals suggest the National Housing Bank intends to spread its early activity across different regions, scheme types and developer sizes rather than concentrating on a handful of flagship sites. For investors and developers, the emerging pattern of debt, equity and infrastructure funding is worth watching as the institution scales up. Silkwood Group will continue to track how these commitments translate into homes on the ground.

Sources

• • GOV.UK, Multi-million pound regeneration and housing boost as National Housing Bank announces new deals
• • Inside Housing, National Housing Bank agrees series of multimillion deals to boost housing and regeneration
• • Propertymark, National Housing Bank backs new homes and regeneration across England