The latest figures from the Regulator of Social Housing show that registered providers are spending less on building new homes and more on upgrading existing stock.
For the 12 months to March 2025, RPs spent £13.6billion on building and acquiring new homes, compared to £14.4billion in the year to March 2024.
Over the next year, providers plan to spend a further £14.8billion on development, of which £10.7billion is committed.
For the 12 months to March 2025, record amounts have been spent on repairs and maintenance of existing stock, with £9billion spent in total. This marks a 13% rise on the previous year, while the forecast spend for the next 12 months rises to £9.9billion.
Will Perry, director of strategy at RSH, said: “Landlords are continuing to build new homes for the future, although spend was lower this quarter as landlords invest record amounts on existing homes. These major investments to improve fire safety, damp and mould as well as other issues are vital for keeping tenants safe in their homes.”
“Landlords continue to make trade-offs in response to financial pressures but investor confidence remains strong and we will continue to support this through our regulation, including these surveys, as well as our inspections and stability check programme.”
Lending to the sector remains strong, with £4.3billion of new finance arranged in the quarter, the second highest level in almost five years.
Available liquidity increased to the highest level in two years, as both undrawn facilities and cash balances increased in the quarter. The level of cash and undrawn facilities would be sufficient to cover the sector’s forecast expenditure on net interest costs (£4.6billion), loan repayments (£3.5billion) and net development for the next year (£12.6billion), even if no new debt facilities were arranged and no sales income were to be received.
The investment in existing and new homes alongside increased debt levels means that the level of aggregate cash interest cover (excluding sales) stood at 82% for the 12 months to March 2025, consistent with the previous quarter, and is forecast to remain restricted at an estimated 65% for the next year.
75 providers (38%) anticipate reporting an impairment charge in their 2024/25 accounts. This compares to 66 (33%) in 2023/24 and 54 (27%) in 2022/23.
The total anticipated impairment charge is £407million, of which £276million relates to social housing assets.
