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Housing association starts climb 7% to more than 10,000 in quarter
The total number of new homes started by housing associations has risen despite a fall in the number built for open market sale, new National Housing Federation (NHF) data shows.
The NHF’s supply survey for the three months up to and including September 2018 showed that associations had begun 10,511 homes, up 7% from 9,793 in the second quarter of 2017/18.
It is the highest Q2 figure since the NHF began the series in 2016.
The latest data, which covers 87% of all stock owned by developing associations, shows year-on-year increases in social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership homes.
However, the number of market sale homes built hit 1,321 for the period, down more than 37% on last year’s Q2 figure of 2,111 market sale starts.
The NHF’s supply survey provides the most detailed statistics on housing association delivery when compared to government and Greater London Authority (GLA) statistics, which captures only activity in their funding programmes, and does not attribute all Section 106 homes as being delivered by housing associations.
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The number of market rent properties started was also down, dropping to 262 in the three months up to the end of September, down from 556 for Q2 2017/18.
Despite the fall in market sale and rent starts, there was a rise in shared ownership starts, with housing associations starting 3,871 of these products, compared with last year’s figure of 2,885 homes.
The number of social rent starts was up by 6% to 840 properties for the quarter when compared with last year, while affordable rent properties rose by 22% to 4,217.
Of the 10,511 homes started in the quarter, 46% were delivered outside the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP).
The AHP encompasses all of Homes England’s funding streams including continuous market engagement and strategic partnerships, as well as the GLA’s various funding streams.
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The AHP funded 331 social rent property starts for the quarter, while 509 were delivered outside the programme.
Nearly half the homes (4,476) were delivered for housing associations through Section 106 agreements with developers and private house builders.
The three months up to and including September also saw an increase in the total number of homes completed, with 9,842 homes completed in the quarter, up from 8,904 for 2017/18.
The number of homes completed for market sale hit 1,069 for the period, up from 789 last year.
Katie Teasdale, head of member relations at the NHF, said: “Once again, our supply survey clearly shows that housing associations are working hard to deliver the homes the country needs. They made a real contribution to the supply of new homes, building more than 9,800 homes between July and September 2018 – a 10% increase on the same period in 2017. This includes more than 1,000 homes for social rent, up 8% on the previous year.
“These results are very encouraging, but housing associations are keen to do much more. In order to do this, they need access to two things: funding and affordable land.
“While ministers have made welcome promises of more money for social housing, we need even greater investment, particularly in the next spending review period, to build the 90,000 homes for social rent we need every year. The government should also fundamentally reform the way that land is bought and sold, allowing housing associations to buy land for affordable housing at cheaper levels.”
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