A new advisory group with a wide ranging remit to look at future sources of private finance for housing has been established by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The Housing Finance Group, made up of industry experts and chaired by Nigel Hugill, the recent Executive Chairman of Lend Lease, will look at the future sources of private investment in new and existing housing. It will encompass both affordable and private housing.

Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the HCA said: "Making the best use of private finance and, importantly, identifying new sources of investment, is crucial if we are to maintain activity and industry capacity throughout the downturn and beyond. The underlying need for producing new housing and improving existing stock hasn't gone away, and I am delighted that the HCA will be able to call on individuals of this calibre to help us inform finance options in meeting that demand.

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"Their focus will be housing specific but their findings and recommendations will have a knock-on effect on regeneration, which is intrinsically linked, and on individual neighbourhoods and residents across the country."

Nigel Hugill, Chair of the Housing Finance Group, added: "Public and private house building has tended to rely on comparatively narrow sources of funding in the UK. Those same sources can be expected to remain under pressure for some time. As a group, we will examine how the range can be broadened, in particular through the greater deployment of professional capital such as that proposed via the private rental initiative. Initial responses to that initiative give grounds for cautious optimism that there is institutional appetite to help extend funding sources across the residential spectrum."

(CD/JM)