Notting Hill Genesis to ‘constrain’ development as it misses annual build target by more than half

Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) completed 42% of its targeted homes in 2022/23 after work on six developments was pushed into the current financial year.

The 67,000-home housing association said in its 2022/23 financial statement for the 12 months to March 2023 that it completed 459 homes in the period, well short of its 1,087-home target and around a third of the 1,377 it built in 2021/22.

The shortfall in homes was due to six schemes delivering a total of 626 homes that had been pushed back into 2023/24.

NHG missed its target for starts, with work beginning on 459 homes against a target of 1,428.

But it said its starts figure is 1,544 when counting homes begun under pre-contract service agreements, rather than full contracts.

NHG also announced plans to invest close to £500m in improving existing properties over the next 10 years. It more than doubled its spend on capital works to improve homes from £19.4m in 2021/22 to £39.7m in 2022/23.

It added: “We are spending £500m (uninflated) on our planned investment between now and 2030 with a constrained development programme, while improving our residents’ experience.”

Despite the decision to focus on existing homes, it said it will still build more than 1,000 homes in 2023/24 as part of a target to build 5,000 by 2028.

NHG’s turnover fell 13% to £728.1m, with its post-tax surplus dropping 7.7% to £94.4m. The firm said the drop in income was due to an £138.8m fall in sales and development revenue to £116.1m.