Social housing rises after two year slump

Social housing over the course of the next two years is predicted to rise following pledges of support for shared ownership developments in the latest Budget announcement.

According to Glenigan’s construction market analysis, the quarter building up to July 2019 witnessed a 40% surge in the underlying value of social housing projects starting on site, with the remainder of the year forecasted for a further two per cent rise while a longer term forecast, for 2020, shows predictions of a three per cent rise.

In fact, the 50 greatest spending registered social landlords (RSLs) are forecasted to construct 42,278 social housing units in 2019, as stated by the Inside Housing survey, while grand total of 146,000 units are scheduled for completion between 2019 and 2022, measuring at 48,667 units per year.

Much of the aforementioned workload is scheduled as part of schemes which have already been in place, and therefore granted planning permission, as the underlying value of social work gaining approval slumped in the quarter building to July 2019, this likely being a consequence of RSLs reorganising their priorities.

This upsurge in social housing has, however, come after a long period of decline, attributed to the necessary disruptions following the Grenfell Tragedy in 2017, which saw an 11% fall in the underlying value of social housing starts in 2018.

The Economics Director at Glenigan, Allan Wilén stated: “A brighter outlook for project starts is forecast for 2019. Progress of planned developments has been disrupted over the last two years as housing associations have reviewed the implications of the Grenfell fire for refurbishment and new build schemes.

“This is evident in an 11% decline in the value of apartment projects that secured planning approval during 2018. In contrast, the value of housing projects increased 5%.

“Overall, the value of detailed planning approvals for affordable housing projects stabilised last year. This is expected to support a modest improvement in affordable housing project starts during 2019 as projects reviewed in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy start on site.”

The biggest RSL, when considering spending in the year building towards July 2019, has been reported by Glenigan as Clarion, a merger company of Affinity Sutton and Circle, who currently have £22M proposal for over 200 homes in Plymouth.

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