Midlands-based association completes 1,191 homes as it pursues land-led approach to development
Bromford has maintained a steady level of completions.
In a trading update today, the 47,000-home association said it completed 1,191 homes in 2023/24, only marginally down on the 1,265 it completed the year before. Around half (47%) of its completions were for social rent, with the rest for other affordable housing tenures.
The association said it has increased its turnover from £290m to £314m, while its pre-tax surplus excluding fair gains increased from £64m to £67m, although this was below its £72m target.
Bromford is aiming to build 11,000 homes by 2032, with a focus on affordable tenures. It is pursuing a strategy of buying land and pursuing in-house delivery and reducing its reliance on buying homes from housebuilders through section 106 agreements. It said this year one in eight homes has been delivered in-house but it expects this to rise to one in five.
The group’s overall operating margin fell from 31% to 30% due to margins on shared ownership homes dropping from 26% to 21%.
However despite the drop, Bromford said its margin was still higher than the figure it had budgeted for, which meant its sales surplus was £2m higher than expected.
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Bromford said it has increased annual spend on its existing homes by 13% to more than £60m, including an additional £3m in response to the increased demand for repairs and to address condensation, damp and mould.
Robert Nettleton, chief executive of Bromford, said: “Despite persistently high-cost inflation, which has had a material impact on many of our customers, and a government-imposed rent cap, we have maintained our key metrics and ratings. This has enabled us to develop new homes at scale.”
Bromford’s full financial statements for 2023/24 will be published in the summer.
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