Housing 21 ‘on track’ as it aims to build 800 later living homes a year

Housing 21 said its development programme is ‘on track’ as it seeks to increase development to 800 homes a year.

The extra care and retirement living specialist revealed today that it has completed 404 homes across seven schemes in the six months to 30 September. This is more than the 400 it built in the whole of the 2020/21 financial year, which was heavily impacted by covid-19 restrictions.

It said it expects a further four schemes to complete by 31 March, bringing total completions for the year to nearly 700. It said six schemes comprising 321 units will complete by March 2023.

Housing 21 has an ambition of building 800 homes a year, of which around 640 are expected to be extra care homes and 160 retirement living units.

It said in its 2019/20 accounts it was aiming to achieve this by 2022/23, however it now expects to hit the 800 figure a year later in 2023/24. 

Andy Howarth, chief financial officer, said: “The first half of 2021/22 has seen a return to more normal operating conditions with the effects of the Covid pandemic moderating compared to last year. “Our development programme is back on track and performing in line with expectations. Surplus is on budget and we expect this steady performance to continue to the end of the year.”

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Housing 21’s trading update also showed an 11.5% increase in turnover to £109.3m and an 18.6% increase in operating surplus. The surplus was boosted by a trebling in surplus from shared ownership sales from £3.3m to £10.6m.

The update came as banking and lending trade association UK Finance revealed there were 44,130 new later life mortgages in the third quarter of 2021, a 7% drop on the previous quarter.

It said: “The overall quarterly reduction was a result of declines in the number of mortgages taken out by those aged between 55 and 69, which reflects lower house purchase volumes in the wider housing market, coincident with the unwinding of the stamp duty holiday”.

The figures for the third quarter are still however 6% up on the same period the previous year.