Newcastle-based landlord builds 644 homes in 2023/24
Karbon has increased its development by 21%.
The Newcastle-upon-Tyne based housing association, in its financial statements for the year to 31 March, said it completed 644 homes in 2023/24, up from 529 last year.
The 644 homes were all for social housing tenures, with 469 for affordable rent, 82 for social rent and 93 for low-cost home ownership.
Despite the increase in development, 34,000-home Karbon missed its target of increasing its stock by 2.5%, instead achieving 2%.
It said: “Our target for 2024 was 2.5%, which was not achieved due to 81 fewer properties being developed, mainly due to construction delays due to poor weather and third-party issues.”
Karbon’s operating margin was 23%, down on the 26% reported the previous year and below its target of 24.5%. Karbon said this was due to additional repairs cost of £7.2m, an additional 5,500 repairs carried out compared to the previous year, higher spend with subcontractors, use of agency staff and higher costs linked to tackling damp and mould. It also said it had “additional property depreciation of £3.5m due to increased capitalised repairs and earlier than forecast replacement of components.”
Karbon’s spend on routine maintenance increased from £27.8m to £33.3m year-on-year while expenditure on planned maintenance increased from £9.8m to £11m.
Turnover increased 16% from £165m to £191m. Karbon said this was due to the 7% increase in social housing rents and the acquisition of 439-home provider South Tyneside Housing Ventures Trust, which joined Karbon last July. The group’s social housing lettings income increased from £145m to £168m, while shared ownership turnover jumped from £6.1m to £7.2m.
Karbon reported a 61% drop in its overall surplus, from £83.4m to £32.5m. However, this was due to the difference in one-off negative goodwill adjustments following acquisitions of other social landlords in 2023/24 and 2022/23.
Karbon received a £53.4m accounting gain in 2022/23 from its subsidiary York Housing Association’s acquisition of Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association. This was significantly higher than the £4.5m gain it recorded in 2023/24 from its acquisition of South Tyneside Venture Housing Trust.
Karbon’s operating surplus, which excludes such one-off items, remained steady at £46.1m, compared to £46.9m last year.
A spokesperson for Karbon said: “Despite the last 12 months being testing in many ways, with a multitude of competing demands and priorities facing us as an organisation, we present with pride this review for the 2023/2024 financial year.
“We have pushed forward with our ambitious plans to deliver more affordable homes across the region and have invested heavily in the maintenance of our existing homes.”
Housing association financial statements 2023/24
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