Aster Group, the South of England-based housing association, said it plans to more than match the £52m it spent on maintaining its portfolio in its 2018/19 financial year in the coming 12 months and build a similar number of homes.

The group, which operates 30,000 homes, saw pre-tax profit for the year to the end of March 2019 rise by 10% to £55m, on turnover up 3% to £212m.