You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Housing associations ‘have contingencies in place’ to deal with housing market freeze
Housing associations will be impacted by the housing market freeze implemented in response to coronavirus but have contingencies in place to deal with the effects on their businesses, sector bodies have said.
On Thursday, the government effectively put a freeze on buying and selling homes by advising people to delay moving into new homes to avoid breaking social distancing rules.
Transactions involving empty homes – and therefore new builds – can continue, the guidance said.
Will Jeffwitz, head of policy at the National Housing Federation, said: “Housing associations’ first priority is the safety of their residents, staff and customers during this crisis, and we welcome the government’s clear guidance on this issue.
“The sector has anticipated that the housing market was likely to slow down over the next few weeks and has contingencies in place to manage this.
“This will allow housing associations to focus on ensuring that their tenants, staff and wider communities are protected over the coming months.”
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) said it does not plan to take any action in response to the announcement aside from the measures already set out in its new approach during the coronavirus, unveiled last week.
READ MORE
Will Perry, director of strategy at the RSH, said: “Providers with shared ownership and market sale programmes have been experiencing a slowdown in sales for several weeks, and this will inevitably have an impact on their financial performance.
“Delays in achieving sales and falls in values are included in providers’ stress-testing and risk management, and mitigation strategies should be in place as a result.
“We will continue to keep a close eye on providers with sales exposures through the quarterly survey and other monitoring information, as we set out in our letter to providers on Thursday.”
Any providers concerned about their viability should contact the RSH, he added.
Helen Evans, chair of the G15 group of large London housing associations and chief executive of Network Homes, said: “The advice from the government specifically excluded empty new build homes and many transactions in progress are proceeding.
“Clearly the current emergency will have an impact on sales, the extent and duration of which cannot be predicted.
“All G15 business plans are extensively stress-tested by exposure to sales risk with appropriate mitigations planned.”
L&Q, which manages around 95,000 homes and built more than any other housing association in 2018/19 including 1,280 for low-cost or full market sale, said it has stopped all discretionary spend and delayed capital expenditure plans to conserve cash amid the crisis.
A spokesperson for L&Q said: “The housing market freeze will inevitably impact our resales process, with existing residents looking to sell their homes and prospective applicants in the process of making purchases.
“If it is not possible to complete sales due to the current situation, we will encourage buyers, sellers and solicitors to push back completions until it is safe for all parties to finalise their transactions.
“We will continue to help our customers move into vacant and new build homes whilst following government guidance closely.
“Our sales teams are working remotely, and will be conducting all appointments via phone, email and where possible by virtual tour.
“The health and safety of our customers and colleagues is our top priority, and we’ll be working to minimise disruption in this process as much as is possible.”
More on coronavirus
To see all our coronavirus coverage to date – including the latest news, advice to providers, comment and analysis – use the link below.
