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Scottish social landlords increase development spend by 24%
Scottish housing associations have hiked their spend on development over the past year, the Scottish Housing Regulator has found.
From an analysis of registered social landlords’ 2016/17 financial statements, the regulator found spending on development had jumped up by 24%, to £807m.
The Scottish Government has set an ambitious target to deliver 50,000 affordable homes by 2021, with 35,000 at social rents. To help meet this target the Scottish Government has increased its capital grants to social landlords by 32%, up to £336m, and new borrowing is up by 47% to £371m.
The interest payable on outstanding debt rose by 6%, to £167m. The regulator said this increase is mainly due to the higher level of borrowing by social landlords, along with the refinancing of old, pre-credit crunch loans with new loans.
In relation to overall turnover, this figure fell slightly – down 1.6% to £1.56m.
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Turnover from social housing activities was £1,363m, a small increase of 1%. Turnover from social landlords’ other activities fell by 16% to £197m. One of the reasons for this was a reduction in the provision of care and support services by social landlords, the regulator said.
Defined benefit pension schemes – in which the benefit on retirement relates to the employee’s average or final salary – continue to operate in a “challenging environment”, the regulator said. Social landlords recorded an actuarial loss of £42m in defined benefit schemes in the 2016/17 financial year.
