The year in numbers

£7.3bn

The total amount the Communities and Local Government department has spent on ‘improving the supply and quality of housing’ in England in 2008/09. This represents an increase on the 2007/08 total of £6.8 billion, and is also up on the 2006/07 total of £6.4 billion. Final figures for CLG spending on housing in 2009/10 are yet to be released, but in its 2009 annual report, it expected the total to soar to £9.1 billion.

Expenditure in 2010/11, however, will be slashed to £5.3 billion - the spending cut is partly down to the fact that some money was brought forward from the 2010/11 budget to be spent on social rented housing and council housing repairs.

According to the CLG, £350 million has been brought forward for the provision of 4,000 social rented homes, £250 million has been advanced to pay for improvements - including enhanced energy efficiency - to 25,000 council homes, while £175 million has been brought forward for major repairs to council housing stock.

0

The number of housing association insolvencies in England during the past year. In its 2008/09 annual report, the TSA referred to its interim corporate plan published in January 2009, in which it emphasised that ensuring housing associations were financially viable and properly managed would be a ‘key priority’ in its first year of operation. The annual report added: ‘At the end of our first 10 months, not a single provider has faced insolvency, not a single home has been put at risk and we have ensured that the £32.7 billion of taxpayers’ money remains safe and secure.’

In the previous year, 2007/08, the Housing Corporation - the TSA’s predecessor - was forced to intervene in the case of Ujima Housing Association, which faced severe financial difficulties in 2007. The corporation’s action resulted in the transfer of Ujima’s homes to the London & Quadrant group.

36

This represents the number of mergers, amalgamations, and transfers of engagement involving housing associations in the 12 months to 9 February 2010, according to the Tenant Services Authority. It includes a total of two outright mergers - Hertfordshire-based Abbeyfield UK and Abbeyfield Society joined forces in March 2009, while London association Edmanson Jolles and Pemel’s Almshouse Charity and Queen Elizabeth College tied the knot in April 2009.

There were 21 amalgamations - the Riverside Housing Group, was particularly active, joining up with Community Seven, Lee Valley Housing Association, Berrybridge Housing, Carlisle Housing Association, Riverside North East and Bowlee Park Housing among others.

Meanwhile, AmicusHorizon amalgamated with six associations: Rother Homes, Southern Horizon Housing, Ten Sixty Six Housing Association, Swale Housing Association, South London Family Housing Association and Casa Support.

£6.7bn

The total amount of money allocated by the Homes and Communities Agency under the National Affordable Housing Programme during the 13-month period between 1 December 2008 (the date the HCA was launched) and 31 December 2009. The money funded 60,748 units for rent and 45,078 units for low cost homeownership in England.

London was the region that received the largest allocation, with £3.3 billion. The south east received the second largest allocation with £875 million. The north east pocketed the smallest allocation at £126 million. As for individual housing associations, London & Quadrant received the most with £258 million.

The second largest housing association allocation went to Notting Hill Housing Trust, which received £228 million. Third was Catalyst Housing Group with £221 million.

£1.2bn

The value of the housing association sector in England’s landbanks as of January 2010, according to the TSA.

£161,320

The average UK house price in February 2010, according to building society Nationwide. The average house price fell by 1 per cent between the first two months of this year, with the average price of a home standing at £163, 481 in January.

Previous to this fall, house prices had ‘a strong run of nine consecutive monthly increases,’ states Martin Gahbauer, chief economist at Nationwide, in its February 2010 review of the housing market. ‘There is evidence from a range of indicators that the market may have lost momentum in early 2010 as the stamp duty holiday ended and house hunters were obstructed by the icy weather,’ he says. ‘New buyer enquiries dropped sharply in the new year and there was also an associated drop in the number of new mortgages taken out by homebuyers in January. At this stage, it is difficult to gauge how much of the drop in housing activity is… a temporary blip or the start of a new trend.’

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, believes there will be a ‘significant correction in 2010’, adding that house prices will ‘probably be no better than flat over the year’.

5,596

The number of unsold low cost homeownership homes as of January 2010, according to the Tenant Services Authority’s quarterly survey of housing associations. This represents a fall of 16 per cent on the figure for October 2009, when the number of unsold homes stood at 6,660.

The current number of unsold low cost homeownership properties is way down on the January 2009 peak of more than 10,000. The number of homes that have remained unsold for more than six months is less than half the total unsold stock, says the TSA. However, the average time taken to sell LCHO units stood at 33 weeks in January 2010 compared to 16 weeks in April 2009.

£58bn

The total amount of committed loan facilities to the housing sector as of January 2010, according to the TSA’s quarterly review published at the end of last month. More than three-quarters of this total (£45 billion) is drawn. The TSA forecasts drawdowns of a further £5 billion over the next 12 months, with 92 per cent of this finance coming from existing facilities.

The TSA reckons the sector ‘continues to be attractive to funders’ and that new lending facilities of £2.04 billion were arranged in the nine months to December 2009, including £818 million of bond finance. This compared with bond finance of £785 million in 2008/09. The sector generated £455 million in sales receipts in the quarter to January 2010. This compares with £1.4 billion in receipts generated in the previous 12 months. A total of £1.3 billion in sale receipts is forecast for the 12-month period to January 2011.

£159m

The total amount housing associations collectively wrote down in their 2008/09 accounts. In its quarterly review of housing associations 2009/10, published at the end of last month, the TSA argues that although this was a significant increase on the 2008 figure of £22 million, the amount was low ‘compared to the size of the sector’.

The housing watchdog also notes that the figure represents less than 0.3 per cent of the sector’s total assets, comparing favourably with the 30-35 per cent level of writedowns seen in the commercial development sector. The TSA report adds that, while the total amount written down was above levels of impairment usually expected in the sector, no associations have reported covenant breaches as a result of this.

27%

The proportion of housing and regeneration organisations forced to make redundancies as a result of the recession, according to an HCA survey of 100 housing and regeneration professionals published in April 2009. Elsewhere the survey notes that 55 per cent of those questioned had experienced an organisational restructure because of the economic climate. Affinity Sutton was one of the associations making the largest number of redundancies in 2008/09 - it shed 61 staff.

‘The housing sector is clearly being impacted by conditions in the wider economic environment and significant challenges remain,’ concluded the TSA in its quarterly review published on 24 February. ‘However, housing providers continue to demonstrate resilience and are still able to attract sufficient investment to deliver their aspirations.’

Have your say

You must sign in to make a comment