Barclays Backs Watford Community Housing with £25m Development Loan

Bank of England

Watford Community Housing has secured its first SONIA-linked loan with a £25m revolving credit facility (RCF) to support the development of more than 1,500 homes across Watford and Hertfordshire.

This deal represents one of the first in the sector using the Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) interest benchmark and offers additional capacity of £25m for Watford Community Housing, taking the Group’s debt capacity growth to £100m in the last four years.

The funding will be used to support the Group’s ambitious development programme of more than 1,500 homes in the next five years. The RCF provides further strengthening on liquidity, as well as additional capacity for development opportunities.

The loan has been arranged with Barclays, which is Watford Community Housing’s largest lender, with the two organisations having had a continual relationship since the housing association was founded in 2007.

Paul Richmond, Watford Community Housing’s Deputy CEO, said: “This is a landmark deal for Watford Community Housing and provides further capacity to support our business plan ambitions. We are delighted to have further extended our relationship with Barclays, which gives us the additional capacity we need to develop much-needed affordable homes for our local community and beyond.”