Midland Heart ‘on target’ to hit 4,000-home goal despite drop in completions

Midland Heart’s chair says the organisation is on track to hit its goal of building or acquiring 4,000 homes by 2025 despite a fall in annual completions.

The 34,000-home association, in its financial statements for 2022/23, today said it built 651 homes last year, down 8% on the 700 it completed the previous year.

However, the association said it has delivered 2,271 homes since the start of its corporate plan period in 2019, “despite the challenges of global supply issues, price increases and planning delays.” This figure includes 255 homes that have been acquired in addition to new build.

John Edwards, chair of Midland Heart said the organisation “is on target” to meet its 4,000-unit aim.

Midland Heart boosted its annual turnover by 6.8% to £221.1m, due largely to increased income from social housing lettings, while its income from shared ownership first tranche sales increased by £0.4m.

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Its surplus fell 27% from £55.5m to £40.7m. This was due largely to a £7.5m one-off gain the previous year due to the sale of stock to Orbit Group, along with a £5.6m increase in interest costs.

Midland Heart’s surplus from social housing lettings fell from £54.9m to £54.2m due to “higher materials and labour costs in maintenance, together with more investment in quality, retro fit and building safety”.

Shared ownership surplus remained steady at £2.7m, compared to £2.6m the previous year.