L&Q boosts completions 29%

L&Q has increased its completions 29% in the first quarter of the year.

The housing association giant, in unaudited figures released for the three months to 31 July, said it has completed 1,295 homes in the first quarter of the year, up from 1,003 for the same period in 2020/21.

It boosted its social housing completions from 646 to 807, while its market sale delivery increased from 357 to 488 units.

The figures suggest the 119,000-home landlord is on track to exceed its housing association sector record-breaking total of 4,157 homes completed in 2021/22.

L&Q is expecting to again build more than 4,000 homes in 2022/23, as it is still working on homes started when it previously ramped up activity to build 10,000 homes a year.

It has since dropped the 10,000-home target and scaled back delivery due to the need to invest in existing homes, including in fire safety. It expects its delivery to level out at about 3,000 new homes a year from 2023/24.

Waqar Ahmed, group director of finance at L&Q said: “Our focus remains on the delivery of our strategic objectives which prioritises investment in safety and the quality of existing homes and services. “We continue to make strong progress against our building safety inspection programme and have completed safety inspections on 556 buildings including a full intrusive inspection on all 192 buildings that are above 18 metres in height”

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The trading update this morning showed a 15% drop in turnover and a 20% drop in operating surplus. However, L&Q insisted it is on course to meet its expectations for the year. It is forecasting a surplus after tax of between £260m and £280m for the financial year, which would exceed the £208m recorded in 2021/22.