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Moat sees surplus jump a third after staircasing boost
Kent-based housing association Moat has reported a 32% rise in its annual surplus, which was helped by an uptick in market sales and an increase in shared owners staircasing.
The 21,000-home landlord, which operates across Kent, Essex, Sussex and London, posted a surplus of £47.9m in the year to the end of March 2022, compared with £36.4m the previous year. Turnover rose 19% to £181.3m.
The performance was partly driven by 199 shared owners acquiring more equity in their homes, up from 122 the previous year.
Moat’s performance on staircasing mirrors that of fellow South East-based landlords. In April, Clarion reported “strong demand” for staircasing, while Peabody said this month that its surplus was boosted by a similar trend.
Staircasing increased last year due to the government’s stamp duty holiday, according to the Regulator of Social Housing. The holiday, which applied to some staircasing transactions, was extended a number of times to stimulate the housing market following a pandemic-related hit.
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Moat’s surplus from shared ownership staircasing increased 27% to £11.4m. The association’s margins on staircasing also rose to 48.3%.
However Moat reported a fall in the number of first-tranche shared ownership sales to 259, compared to 307 in 2020-21.
But private market sales performed strongly. The landlord sold 46 homes on the open market, up from eight the previous year, generating a surplus of £4.5m.
Like other housing associations, however, Moat’s development plans were hit by current conditions. It completed 500 homes against a target of 607, but up on last year’s figure of 422.
The landlord missed its target on starts too, with work commencing on 356 homes compared with an expected 400.
“The handover dates on a number of schemes have been moved into 2022-23 as starts on site and handovers have been impacted by ongoing shortages in materials and labour and the significant increase in costs of materials,” Moat said.
Looking ahead, the association said it was retaining its aim to build 650 homes a year despite the number of construction firms going bust.
“With high inflation leading to rising labour and material costs in our supply chain and our fixed cost contracts, there is a risk of contractors going into administration,” it explained.
“We are working with our contractors where possible to enable our contracts to be completed.”
Last month Moat announced that its long-serving finance boss, Greg Taylor, will be stepping down later this year. The news came three months after former CHP boss Mary Gibbons took over as chief executive at the association.
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