Social housing sector in good financial health

The Regulator of Social Housing has published the results of its latest Quarterly survey of registered providers’ financial health.

The RSH states that the sector remained financially healthy over the quarter and the financial year despite the pressures caused by the pandemic, supporting investor confidence, with good access to finance enabling investment in new and existing homes.

Agreed debt facilities increased to £113 billion at the year end. This included £15 billion of new finance agreed in the year, the highest ever recorded and is sufficient to fund the sector’s interest cost, loan repayments and capital investment commitments for over 12 months.

Capitalised repairs and maintenance spending increased substantially for the second quarter in a row to £580 million, though this is from a low base in late 2020. Providers have reported ongoing delays due to lockdown restrictions; despite these, outturn spend was moving towards levels seen before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Investment in housing supply during the quarter was £2.8 billion, a reduction of 18 per cent on the previous quarter and lower than forecast both for contractually committed schemes and in total.

Will Perry, director of Strategy at RSH, said: “The social housing sector remains financially strong and continues to weather the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, forecasting increasing spend on maintenance and investment in new and existing homes. Looking ahead, providers face a range of increasing pressures, particularly on capital expenditure. They will need to maintain strong risk management and financial control and communicate effectively with investors so that they can continue to meet the needs of current and future tenants.”