Income from shared ownership almost halves at extra-care specialist

“We continue to have a modest sales programme and will only develop shared ownership where it is right to do so, not by default, and will never use shared ownership or outright sales properties as a cross subsidy,” Housing 21 said.

The landlord missed its development target of 169 completions because a partner entered administration and two contracts had to be re-procured, it said.

It completed 117 new properties and acquired a further 504 in 2023-24. Work is now underway on 769 properties.

Housing 21 added that the contractor insolvency had triggered an impairment charge of £715,000.

“Low-cost homeownership properties were assessed for impairment by comparing costs of the development versus the net realisable value”, which resulted in the charge, the association said.

Turnover from social housing during 2023-24 totalled £199.7m in 2023-24, an increase of 12% year on year. This was partly driven by an 11.1% rent increase, as supported housing providers are exempt from the rent cap applied to the rest of the sector.

Housing 21’s operating surplus increased by £1.4m to £27.8m.

The landlord also reported an improved EBITDA MRI (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, major repairs included) interest cover metric, rising from 130.9% to 141.4%.

While maintenance costs were £4.3m higher year on year, the association said this was due to the recent onboarding of properties “where a substantial number of routine repairs were required”.

Housing 21 noted that it was “not satisfied with our overall resident satisfaction score of 86%” and was “bitterly disappointed” that the Housing Ombudsman had found one instance of maladministration and two cases of service failure.

“We are determined to do better,” it said.

The 23,000-home landlord confirmed the disposal of its leasehold portfolio in July, which it had said it planned to do in last year’s accounts.

It also gave an update on the future of its older persons non-social rent portfolio.

Although it identified a buyer, “following receipt of a revised offer, the new price was unacceptable and we decided not to proceed”, Housing 21 said.

“Instead, we plan to dispose of each property individually when they become void. At year end, there were 69 properties void and available for sale.”

The landlord said that while this would take longer, it expected to make a profit on each sale and so can reverse the impairment booked last year on the properties.

Housing 21 has seen a shake-up of its leadership team in recent months, including the appointment of Andy Shaw as chief financial officer.

In February, it appointmented Gurpreet Dehal, a former investment banker, as its new chair. But he resigned shortly afterwards in May.

Mr Dehal was replaced by existing board member Elaine Elkington, who was also previously the interim head of the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.