Standard & Poors believes Housing 21’s creditworthiness would be lowered by its proposed merger with retirement village developer Extra Care Charitable Trust (ECCT).

The credit rating agency has placed the £250m-turnover housing association’s ‘A-‘ long term issuer rating on ‘creditwatch’ meaning it believes that a rating change is likely in the next 90 days.

It said: “The creditwatch placement reflects our view that H21’s potential merger with Extra Care Charitable Trust (ECCT) would result in a combined group with weaker creditworthiness than Housing 21 on a stand-alone basis.