Social landlords increase stock at faster rate despite ‘challenging economic environment’, RSH reveals

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has said it is reassured by the fact that social landlords have increased their housing stock by 42,727  homes in England in the year to 31 March 2024 despite the “challenging economic environment”.

The increase, revealed in fresh data released by RSH, is 21% higher than the 33,872 rise posted the previous year. The increase was largely due to the number of social rented homes increasing by 696, compared to a 6,635 reduction in 2022/23.

RSH said the small increase in social rent units was due to housing associations increasing their social rented stock by 5,188 homes, offsetting a reduction of 4,492 social rented homes for local authorities.

Social landlords increase their affordable rented stock by 24,756 units and their low cost-home ownership homes by 17,275, equating to 42,031 homes in total. This compares to an increase of 40,508 the previous year for those two categories.

Will Perry, director of strategy at RSH, said: “It is reassuring to see the sector continuing to build and acquire much-needed new social homes across the country, despite a challenging economic environment.”

Perry added that the data ”provides a rich source of insight into the sector as a whole, helping us understand the challenges facing both landlords and tenants.”

He stressed that “landlords should ensure they hold accurate, up-to-date data to inform strategic decisions, especially around rents and the condition of home”.

The social housing sector now provides more than 4.5m homes across England, of which 2.9m are owned by private registered providers.

Housing associaitons alone increased their stock by 51,777 units in 2023/24. The majority of this growth is attributed to a rise in the number of general needs units, with nearly 26,600 homes delivered, along with 16,561 low-cost home ownership units.

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Social landlords conducted stock condition surveys on around 511,000 properties. The surveys identified nearly 42,000 homes which did not meet the Decent Homes Standard, 37,500 properties were remediated to bring them up to the DHS and 1,800 were sold or demolished.

The average increase in general needs social rent average weekly rents was 7.2% between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024, in line with the limit set for 2023/24.

The average weekly general needs rent in England was £105.22, though this varied across the country. Average rents were lowest in the North East at £88.11 per week and highest in London, £129.83 a week.