Media release

NHFIC Funds $40M Loan to Bridge Housing for Social and Affordable Homes

The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) has today announced it has provided a $40 million loan to Bridge Housing which will support almost 300 social and affordable dwellings across Sydney.

The 10-year, low interest loan will enable Bridge Housing to refinance existing projects and fund new ones. Over the life of the loan, it is estimated that NHFIC’s finance will save the community housing provider (CHP) as much as $7 million in interest and other costs compared to market rates.

NHFIC CEO Nathan Dal Bon said the long-term certainty and cost savings for CHPs were critical to helping accelerate and increase the supply of social and affordable housing.

“NHFIC is saving CHPs, including Bridge Housing, millions in financing costs and giving them decade-long certainty over their loan facilities,” Mr Dal Bon said.

“CHPs can use these savings to initiate additional new social and affordable housing projects, including in growth corridors and inner city areas that are among the most challenging when it comes to affordability.

Bridge Housing CEO, John Nicolades said, “The NHFIC financing is a game changer for Bridge Housing.”

“The money we save with lower interest payments means more cash to develop additional social and affordable housing for Australian families struggling in the housing market to access secure and affordable housing,” he said. “We can build upon our portfolio of 3,300 properties.”

The NHFIC loan will be split into two tranches with the first being used to refinance Bridge Housing’s existing development program, which included:

158 seniors’ housing units in two buildings at Elger Street, in inner-Sydney Glebe, in partnership with Land and Housing Corporation as part of a mixed residential development;
65 affordable homes on the Bunya Urban Growth NSW estate in Bungarribee in the Blacktown LGA, in Western Sydney;
38 new apartments in a housing complex at Collett Parade in Parramatta, on a site purchased from Housing NSW; and
A nine-dwelling development for older women at Ashfield in Sydney’s inner-west.
The second tranche will be used to develop 16 townhouses in Dulwich Hill in Sydney’s inner-west, as well as the acquisition and refurbishment of eight units in Punchbowl in south-west Sydney, at a total development cost of approximately $12.6 million.

NHFIC is currently working towards its second social bond issuance. The first, issued in March, was four times oversubscribed and set a record as the largest social bond aligned to international principles issued in Australia to date.

More information:

Kathy Lindsay | 0437 230 007 | Wells Haslem Mayhew

Anna Grutzner | 0408 224 427 | Bridge Housing