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Aster smashes pandemic home starts target by nearly 20%
Aster Group has delivered around 150 more homes than predicted during the pandemic, bucking the national trend, the landlord has revealed.
Between January 2020 to the end of March 2021, Aster built 928 properties – 478 for social or affordable rent, 339 for shared ownership and 111 for open market sale. This is up from the initial figure of around 780 homes it had initially forecasted. Inside Housing has asked for the exact figure.
This comes in spite of major challenges faced by the sector and a significant drop in development rates over recent months.
Restrictions brought about by the pandemic alongside rising costs of materials put housing associations in a double bind last year, with analysis by Inside Housing showing a 15% drop in completion rates for new homes across the sector. Overall, landlords completed 34,753 homes in 2020/21 compared with 40,681 in 2019/20.
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Just last month it was reported that social landlords and construction companies are facing widespread shortages of vital materials, such as timber and steel, with some associations experiencing delays of up to 10 weeks on orders.
Experts have blamed restrictions caused by Brexit and coronavirus, as well as the Suez Canal blockage in March, for the delays.
In an announcement on 27 July, Aster attributed its figures to construction productivity levels “picking up more quickly than its teams predicted”.
A spokesperson for Aster confirmed that the association had predicted a completion rate of “around 780 at the onset of the pandemic… but this was revised throughout as the situation evolved”.
The number represents an investment of £160m in new housing projects over the past 12 months.
Aster contracted sites in several new local authority areas for the first time in 2020/21, including Reigate and Banstead in Surrey and Cherwell in Oxfordshire. The association plans to build 2,980 additional homes by the end of 2023.
Amanda Williams, group development director at Aster, said: “We’ve been ambitious and had an incredibly successful year for our development programme, despite the challenges facing the entire housing industry.
“The next few years will be critical in redressing the inequalities exposed over the past 12 months for those still looking to find a home in a place they want to live, and the 2,980 homes in our pipeline will play no small part.”
Aster now owns and manages over 32,000 homes across the South of England. Earlier this year it raised £250m via one of the sector’s first sustainability bonds to help fund more energy-efficient homes.
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