A2Dominion’s surplus falls by 74%

The decrease in surplus was also partly down to an increase in operating costs for social housing, which rose from £118.9m to £131.7m, with only a slight increase in turnover from social housing lettings. This included an increase in its house maintenance programme from £24.1m to £32.9m.

A2Dominion also spent £13.5m on fire safety works last year, compared with spending nothing in that area in the previous year.

Ms Waterhouse explained: “We are fortunate as an organisation that we aren’t really caught by having an excessive amount of high-rise buildings with cladding issues. What we’ve had a look at is some of those other areas around compartmentalisation and fire stopping.”

A2Dominion’s turnover increased significantly over the year, rising from £300.7m to £372.2m. This was largely down to a boost in the amount of revenue the housing association received from building homes for market sale, a figure that rose from £45.9m to £99.3m.

This puts it in a relatively unusual position for London housing associations, many of which have had to cut back on development for market sale amid a hostile market.

A2Dominion built fewer homes last year than in the previous year, the number falling from 954 to 875.

Ms Waterhouse explained: “Where we are in our development cycle is that we’re in a period where there is lower output.”

Of the 875 new homes completed last year by the association, 354 were for private sale, while 296 were for private rent. The total number also included 113 homes for affordable rent, 24 for social rent and 88 shared ownership properties.

Ms Waterhouse told Inside Housing: “We’ve been quite active at securing sites for our future and that spans out over the next five to six years, quite evenly spread. That gives us a bit of resilience going forward, particularly where we are in the marketplace at the moment.

“We’re already 71% sold for all of our anticipated completions for this year, albeit we have a much lower level of production.”

Ms Waterhouse added that the organisation had focused on building homes in outer London and the South East, as well as selling at mid-market price points.

Update: at 9.30 on 5.8.19 This story was updated to clarify Ms Waterhouse’s comments. She was previously quoted as referring to a “last joint venture”, when in fact she said “large joint venture”. The update also corrected the number of homes managed by A2Dominion from 37,000 to 38,000 and added the figures for A2Dominion’s investment in maintenance.