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Uptick in staircasing helps BPHA’s record £59m property sales
Large 19,000-home association BPHA has reported £59m in record property sales, which was largely driven by an uptick in shared owners taking advantage of the low interest rates to staircase on their properties.
According to the landlord’s latest accounts for the year end March 2022, the record number was in part down to 205 sales of new shared ownership properties of £28.7m.
These sales were in addition to a further 127 sales where customers exercised their right to buy more of their home through staircasing, with this generating £26.8m.
BPHA, which operates in the Oxford-Cambridge arc, said eight private sales also took place in the year, which resulted in £3.4m of income.
Its accounts showed the landlord’s operating surplus increased by £2m to £62m and its operating margin dropped by one percentage point to 42%.
Consequently, total comprehensive income at the association almost doubled to £50.3m.
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Investment in new homes hit £50m, a £12m year-on-year increase, but the number of affordable homes built by BPHA fell by more than 50 to 307.
The total number of homes managed by the landlord stands at 19,618 – an increase of around 160.
Spending on development during the year increased nearly £7m to £52.4m, as did spending on repairs and maintenance by nearly £10m to £35.3m.
However, BPHA’s accounts showed spending in both these areas would have been higher if it was not for labour and material shortages and inflationary pressures.
The association announced in June that it would bring its repairs service in-house, in a bid to improve customer satisfaction.
The accounts also showed that BPHA has decided to close its defined benefit pension scheme to current members on 30 September 2022 following a consultation. This is because of a £20m swing in actuarial movement after a more than £10m loss in 2021 became a £9.8m gain in the past financial year.
Due to the continued volatility of the scheme, the landlord said a decision has been made to close it to current members to reduce the risk created by fluctuations to the scheme’s deficit. All scheme members have been given the opportunity to transfer to the defined contribution scheme.
In his foreword to the accounts, Kevin Bolt, chief executive of BPHA, explained how careful financial management allowed the landlord to continue to invest in its services.
He added: “As well as spending £35m on maintenance and improvements, we also delivered 307 new homes. While this is lower than BPHA’s historical levels – reflecting the difficulty of the current development environment – it was satisfying in as much as it also represents the start of the rebuilding of our development pipeline post the pandemic.”
Mr Bolt said the landlord’s aim is to develop 2,250 new affordable homes between 2023 and 2028.
BPHA announced in April that it had begun merger talks with Futures Housing Group and Flagship Group to create a new 60,000-home association.
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