Midlands-based housing association forecasting 1,300 completions this year
Platform Housing Group has said it is still expects to increase its development this year despite completions falling 8% in the first three quarters of the year.
The Solihull-based association, in a trading statement today, said it completed 713 homes in the nine months to 31 December, down on 775 in the same period last year, a drop of 8%.
Despite this, the association said it is still expecting to hit its original target of 1,300 completions in 2023/24 as a whole, which would represent a 17% increase on the 1,114 delivered the previous year.
The 49,000-home association said however that cost inflation has adversely affected “a small number of development partners.”
It said: “The development programme has continued to see improvement in market conditions, with continued easing in build cost inflation.” The association said it started work on 1,500 homes in the year.
Platform posted a 9.4% increase in turnover for the nine months to nearly £250m, this includes a 9.6% increase in social housing lettings turnover.
Despite the dip in completions, the group increased its investment in new homes by 49% to £243.8m, while it ramped up its investment in existing stock by 33.3% to £18.4m,.
Platform is shifting towards a land-led approach, under which it buys and develops its own sites, and away from relying on forward buying units from housebuilders under section 106 deals.
The association said it has introduced a new building specification for its land-led schemes, which will “deliver energy enhancements and thermal efficiencies with a fabric-first approach”, including a requirement that homes are gas-free.
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Elizabeth Froude, chief executive of Platform, said “We continue to deliver our development programme in a sustainable way, as we progress the transition to a more land-led portfolio. We see good demand in our sales programme this year, with reservations, margins and first tranche percentages remaining consistent”.
Froude said the introduction of Awaab’s law, which requires social landlords to deal with hazards promptly, has added cost to the business and is expected to add further operational costs as the current consultation has a wider scope than damp and mould.
She said: “While we have a well-structured process for capturing, identifying and dealing with damp and condensation mould, the ongoing level of cases raised for investigation have added a layer of cost to our business which has been higher than anticipated in our budgets.”
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