South west-based association built fewer affordable homes in 2023/24 than its target due to “site specific” issues.

LiveWest built fewer affordable homes in 2023/24 than its target due to “site specific” issues.

The 40,000-home housing association, in its financial statements for the year to 31 March, said it built 899 homes in the year down on the 1,149 it completed the previous year.

balance sheet accounts

It completed 788 homes for affordable tenures, missing its target of 900.

It said: “As developers delayed start on sites due to the slowing housing market, we saw our development programme deliver 788 new affordable homes, compared to the budget of 900 and the 2022/23 actual of 951.” Its pipeline of plots however increased year-on-year from 2,760 to 3,170.

The association increased its overall turnover 2%, from £300m to £306m. The association increased its income from social housing lettings by 11%, from £203m to £226m. This helped offset a £20m fall in revenue from open market sales, which LiveWest said this was due to a “reduced volume of homes sold as contractors delayed starting schemes due to a slower housing market.”

LiveWest’s surplus fell from £54m to £51m, however this was due to the association receiving a one-off £6m gain on the movement of financial instruments the previous year. Its operating surplus excluding one-off costs rose from £76m to £83m.

The association increased its expenditure on maintenance of existing properties, including responsive, cyclical and major repairs from £89m to £102m.

It said: “This resulted from high volumes of repairs and continued investment into components, building safety and energy efficiency.”

Housing association financial statements 2023/24 

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