Lower shared ownership sales margins impact Yorkshire Housing’s pre-tax surplus
Pre-tax surplus at Yorkshire Housing was down by almost a third in the first half of the financial year, in part due to lower margins on shared ownership sales.
Yorkshire Housing has seen its financial performance dip in the first half of the financial year, with lower margins on shared ownership sales #UKhousingIn its trading update for the first six months of 2025-26, the 19,000-home landlord said its net surplus before tax had dropped by almost a third to £7.7m.
Its operating surplus at the end of September 2025 was also down 5% to £19.1m. Turnover from social housing lettings grew by around 6%, due to “rent increases and the development of new homes”.
The housing association said this increased rental income helped to “manage overall financial performance”.
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Sales of shared ownership were down to 109 first-tranche sales in the first half of the year, compared to 123 last year. Yorkshire Housing said lower margins on these sales were down to the “mix of schemes coming to market”.
Spending on repairs and maintenance remained the biggest cost area for the housing association, but it said costs have stabilised.
The landlord’s interest cover was down slightly to 135%, down from 138% in 2024.
On its existing stock, depreciation and amortisation increased by 14% since the same period in 2024, which the trading update said was down to continued investment in its homes, and its amortised investment in technology.
Rob Parkes, executive director of finance and governance at Yorkshire Housing, said the housing association had an “improved financial performance” on the previous financial year.
He continued: “As anticipated, we’ve had a slight dip in performance into the first half of this year.
“The main driver is lower margins experienced on shared ownership sales because of the mix of schemes coming to market. However, our operating surplus remains ahead of budget for the period.
“Repairs and maintenance costs have stabilised after an increase last year following a sector-wide trend of increased demand.
“It remains our biggest cost area and the movement this year is largely aligned with inflation. We’ve also improved our repairs efficiency and service standards through transforming systems, processes and organisational design.”
Mr Parkes also noted that rent arrears have seen a “modest increase” as residents continued to face “significant living pressures” and more of them transition to Universal Credit.
He added: “External operating conditions are moving in a more favourable direction with inflation reducing and the Bank of England base rate steadily coming down.
“The cost of new debt remains higher than the weighted average of our portfolio of funding. To counter this we’ve carefully maintained strong liquidity whilst balancing the cost, interest rate risk and refinancing risk with new transactions.”
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