The British Property Federation has urged George Osborne to throw his weight behind plans for the UK’s first commercial real estate loan database.
In its submission to the chancellor ahead of the Autumn Statement on 3 December, the lobbying body has included the provision of data on UK commercial property lending as one of five key industry themes.
It sets out its support for the Bank of England’s consultation on improving commercial real estate lending information, launched in June, adding that it would envisage the creation of a database.
The BPF added: “While any work regarding this initiative will be driven primarily by the Bank and the Prudential Regulation Authority, we would encourage the government to engage with the process and offer its support towards improving the availability of data on lending against UK commercial property.”
A loans database was one of the key recommendations of the cross-industry report, A Vision for Real Estate Finance in the UK.
The BPF also references business rates, housing, the efficiency of the UK property sales and leasing processes and the need for adequate resourcing in HMRC in its representations to the chancellor.
