Industry News
Clarion reports flat operating surplus in spite of pandemic
Britain’s largest housing association has reported a marginal increase in its operating surplus during the first six months of 2020/21 despite the disruption caused by the coronavirus health crisis. Clarion Housing Group has 350,000
tenants living in its 125,000 homes. It saw its operating surplus grow from £138m in the first half of 2019/20 to £139m in the same period this year. In an update to investors based on
unaudited results, Clarion reported income from outright sales and shared ownership of £70m, up from £43m over the same period last year. Investment in existing stock fell from £31m to £29m and from £284m to £274m in new homes.
Clarion said the figures represented a “strong performance given the pause in construction activity towards the end of March 2020”. It experienced a drop in new build starts during the six months to 30 September 2020, with activity beginning on 813 homes, compared with 1,132 in the same period last year. Its development pipeline currently stands at around 18,000 homes.
Clarion has increased its liquidity
position during the pandemic. Liquidity rose from £900m at 31 March 2020 to £1.6bn at the end of September. The HA is planning to publish in November its first environmental, social and governance report bringing together a variety of key metrics.
Landlords confidence levels falling during Covid pandemic
by the COVID-19 pandemic according to new research. The latest survey of just over 2,000 members of
A
the National Residential Landlords Association found that 48 per cent felt they would face a ‘slightly’ negative impact to their business as a result of the pandemic and 18 per cent said they would face a ‘significant’ negative impact. This has caused landlord confidence to fall with
56 per cent saying that they were less, or much less, confident of being able to achieve their goals over the next year compared to four months ago. Concerns over the impact the pandemic is having
is affecting investment decisions being made by landlords. While 16 per cent of those surveyed said they planned to purchase at least one or more properties over the next year, 30 per cent said they intend to sell one or more properties. The likely fall in the supply of rental homes
comes as the survey found that 35 per cent of respondents reported that over the previous three months they had seen an increase in demand for private rented housing. With previous analysis by the NRLA suggesting
the total private sector rent arrears as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in England could be up to
6 | HMM December/January 2021 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
lmost two thirds of private landlords in England and Wales expect their rental business to be negatively impacted
£437 million, landlords are calling on the Government to help sustain tenancies by providing the finances needed to pay off COVID related arrears. Following similar schemes developed in Spain,
Wales and Scotland, the NRLA is calling for tenants in England to be able to access hardship loans to cover such arrears. This would see loans available interest free and guaranteed by the government specifically to cover unpaid rents since lockdown measures began in March. Payments would be made directly to the landlord. The NRLA’s survey has found that 78 per cent of
respondents supported such a scheme. Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the NRLA, said: “While the vast majority of landlords have been working constructively with their tenants where they have struggled due to the pandemic, it is not sustainable to expect them or tenants to continue having rent arrears building indefinitely. This is highlighted in the lower levels of confidence among landlords and the impact it is having on their businesses. “Providing the financial support needed to help
tenants pay off rent arrears built up since lockdown started would cost the Government less than the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. As we head into more local lockdowns, it is even more important that tenants don’t have to worry about meeting their rent bill.”
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