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The money will go into the lender鈥檚 general funds, however, rather than any fund ringfenced for housing associations.

The first bond issue is likely to be worth 拢500m and issued around Christmas.

Richard Hughes, director of the housing finance team at HBOS, said: 鈥淲e have a programme to try to raise money by the most cost-effective route and this is part of that programme.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a specific housing association bond. It鈥檚 a bond that HBOS uses to raise money, but loans in that bond are registered social landlord loans.鈥�

He said the exact timing of the first issue depended on pricing and the completion of paperwork. 鈥淲e hope to do something for Christmas but if it isn鈥檛 attractive, it will get put into January,鈥� he explained.

He added that some of the 拢3bn could end up being supported by residential mortgages as well as social housing lending if necessary.

The special purpose vehicle for the deal got an AAA rating, one of the highest available, from credit ratings agency Standard & Poor鈥檚.

In its presale statement, which acts as a guide to would-be investors, the agency said the deal deserved its high rating because regulation by the Housing Corporation prevented RSLs from defaulting on the loans that back the bond.

However it said any weakening of government involvement in social housing would be a cause for concern.

It also said housing associations were heavily reliant on debt in order to build, so refinancing and technical breaches of loan terms were possible.