The government has pledged £45 million to help unlock more than 2,000 private rented homes in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.

Projects in the three cities will receive £45 million from the government’s new £3 billion Home Building Fund, which will help to construct 25,000 new homes over the next four years

The funding will support a £400 million PRS development pipeline throughout the three regions, with 995 new homes in Manchester, 744 in Leeds and 323 in Birmingham.

Developer Dandara Group is leading the project with backing from the Homes and Communities Agency and HSBC.

Dandara will manage the letting and management of all the developments built using the funding.

Work is set to commence in January 2017 and is due to be completed in December 2019.

The government estimates the work will help to create a further 1,500 construction jobs across the three cities.

Hugh Taylor, HSBC head of housing in the UK, commented: “We are really pleased to be supporting Dandara alongside the HCA with development finance on this multi-site roll-out of ‎their PRS programme.

“It is a significant contribution to the housing challenge and is further evidence of PRS beginning to emerge as a distinct asset class.”

Communities secretary Sajid Javid launched the Home Building Fund at the Conservative Party conference and is designed to provide loans for small and medium enterprise builders, custom builders, offsite construction and essential infrastructure.

The measures form part of the government’s £7.2 billion investment in housing announced in last week’s Autumn Statement.

Housing minister Gavin Barwell has reiterated the government’s commitment to the build-to-rent sector, and confirmed last week that a package supporting the sector would be included in a housing white paper due to be published next year.