UK offers more investment for housing, seeks wider private capital

LONDON (Reuters) -The British government said on Wednesday it would seek to draw in further private capital for, among other things, promoting housebuilding in England, by offering equity investments, loans and guarantees.

As part of finance minister Rachel Reeves' multi-year spending review, the government said it would offer guarantees and other support that would enable 9.6 billion pounds of extra finance.

Of that, 4.8 billion pounds ($6.50 billion) would be allocated to build more homes in England.

Reeves also confirmed a 39 billion-pound 10-year programme to build lower-cost housing, announced on Tuesday, that nearly doubled the annual spending on affordable housing, which it hopes will bring it closer to its housebuilding target.

($1 = 0.7382 pounds)

(Reporting by Suban Abdulla; Editing by Kate Holton and David Milliken)