L&Q ‘on track’ to generate surpus of £220m to £240m

L&Q has started work on 1,405 new homes in the first nine months of the financial year, a drop of 35% on the same period the previous year.

The housing association giant last year abandoned a long-term goal of building 100,000 homes over a decade to focus more on existing stock. It is understood that L&Q believes it is still on track to meet its new target of building 3,000 homes a year over five years.

L&Q offices cropped

L&Q’s offices in Stratford, east London

The figures, in a trading update for the nine months to 31 December, nevertheless showed a 61% year-on year increase in completions, from 1,763 to 2,852.

It has already completed more homes in the nine months than the 2,699 it achieved in the whole of 2020/21, which was disrupted by the pandemic lockdowns. Its completions figure also exceeds the 2,439 it achieved in 2019/20 pre-pandemic.

It boosted its turnover from £689m to £828m over the same period.

The 118,000-home association said it is on course for pre-tax surplus for the full financial year to be between £220m and £240m, which would be slightly up on the £208m recorded in 2020/21.

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It said the average selling price for market sales remained unchanged at £488,000, while the average price of shared ownership properties sold actually went down from £435,000 to £412,000.

L&Q said the drop reflects a higher proportion of sales in its Trafford and counties regions, which have substantially lower prices than in London.

L&Q last year announced a restructuring of its development and sales division under plans to build out its approved pipeline, which stands at 31,724 homes. It scrapped a system which divided work into London and non-London activity and instead created four departments focusing on delivery, growth, strategic sales and strategic services.