Clarion’s Q1 surplus jumps after rent increases and bringing repairs in-house

As of April this year, housing associations and councils were allowed to increase social rent by a maximum of 7.7 per cent under the current rent settlement with the government.

A Clarion spokesperson confirmed to Social Housing that it had raised rents for social tenants by the maximum.

Earlier this month, the G15 landlord reported that it had been bringing the remaining part of its repairs service in-house in Merton, south London, and Kent.

Clarion reported a 10 per cent drop in annual surplus, as it spent more on maintenance, partly due to the use of sub-contractors.

In its first-quarter update, the group revealed it had spent £17.6m on existing homes, down from £27.3m year on year. This was due to timings on phased work planned through the year, Clarion said.

The group reported 335 completions in the latest quarter, up from 141 handovers in the same period last year. Despite this increase, Clarion is dialling down its overall development plans, like many of its peers, because of what it called “challenging market conditions”.

Clarion still has a pipeline of 19,557 homes. However, in today’s update, it said: “The pace at which these can be delivered will, in part, be driven by decisions taken by the new government over how to provide confidence and support to the sector going forward.”

It spent £104.1m in the latest quarter on building new homes, which was broadly flat compared with the same period last year.

Rent arrears in the quarter were 7.2 per cent, down from 7.41 per cent in the same period last year.

Clarion’s group debt as of 31 March 2024 was £4.61bn, up from £4.57bn at the same point last year.