Record spend on existing social homes forecast to rise further, even as landlords continue to invest significantly in new homes
Social landlords invested record amounts on important work to make homes safe, warm and decent while continuing to develop their pipeline of new homes, according to the published today (Thursday 15 January 2026) by the Regulator of Social Housing.
The report, which provides a financial overview of private registered providers of social housing for the year up to 31 March 2025, found that total spend on repairs and maintenance increased 13% to reach £10bn in the year, of which £3.9bn was capitalised.
Investment in existing homes is forecast to be sustained at an average of £10.9bn per annum over the next five years, though these investment plans may be affected by the availability of grant funding for cladding replacement, the implementation of Awaab's Law and the consultations on a new Decent Homes and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard.
Despite ongoing challenges, the sector continues to invest significantly in new supply, with landlords spending £14.2bn on development and delivering 54,000 new social homes - broadly consistent with the previous year.
Financial constraints in some major providers mean some social landlords expect to deliver fewer new homes than previously forecast. It is likely these projections could change as they were made before the government's commitment to a new ten-year affordable housing grant programme.
Whilst the sector continues to face some tough economic headwinds, performance varies significantly among individual landlords.
Nineteen providers - many of which have significant operations in London and the South East, where costs are generally higher - collectively account for 42% of the sector by units owned and 47% by turnover, and their increased exposure to higher repairs and maintenance expenditure has a material impact on the aggregate performance of the sector.
The sector agreed new facilities of £12.3bn in the year, including refinancing, and reported undrawn facilities of £30.6bn in March 2025, which enabled landlords to continue investing in new and existing supply.
The sector also continues to demonstrate robust liquidity, though weaker operating cashflows and high levels of investment have meant that the level of cash and short-term investments decreased for the fourth consecutive year, dropping 8% to £5.1bn.
Operating margins, whilst still at historically low levels, showed a marginal improvement for the second consecutive year to reach 17.3%.
The sector's underlying surplus (which excludes gains on business combinations) also increased from £1.6bn in 2024 to £1.9bn in 2025, in part due to rising SHL rental income as well as an increase in the surplus from the sale of properties previously held for rent.
The surplus on fixed asset sales increased by 27% to £1.3bn in 2025, the highest level on record, as some landlords rationalised their stock holdings through the strategic disposal of properties.
Will Perry, Director of Strategy at RSH, said
"As expected, record investment in repairs and maintenance continues to affect margins as important safety and quality works are carried out. It is essential that providers ensure these works are completed efficiently and effectively, to improve financial resilience and increase development capacity.
"It is encouraging that most providers also continue to invest significantly in new homes. Major government interventions such as the £39bn grant for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme for the next ten years and capital funding for building safety should sustain new development into the future.
"While it's important to mention there are some signs of improvement in margins, we will continue to closely monitor landlords' financial viability to ensure tenants and homes are protected."
The annual publication is available on the Global Accounts page .
Notes
- The 2025 Global Accounts of registered providers (Global Accounts) provides a financial overview of the social housing sector based on an analysis of the regulatory returns of private registered providers (providers). The publication does not include any financial data relating to social housing stock held by local authorities.
- In total, there are over 1,500 providers on RSH's Register, of which the majority have fewer than 1,000 homes. This publication is concerned with the financial analysis of 200 large private registered provider groups which own or manage at least 1,000 social homes, together representing more than 96% of the sector's stock. The underlying dataset used to produce the Global Accounts is subject to change as the number of providers above or below the 1,000 homes cut-off changes each year.
- The Global Accounts present the consolidated financial statements of private registered providers for the year ending March 2025. The report includes an analysis of providers' financial forecasts (in section 5: Annex - Financial Forecasts).
