England’s top 50 housing associations have bid to deliver up to 80 per cent of the 150,000 affordable homes pledged by the government, Inside Housing reported.
According to Inside Housing’s annual survey the biggest 50 associations expect to build 122,300 new homes over the next four years.
The survey backs up housing minister Grant Shapps’ claim that interest from associations in the government’s 1.8 billion affordable rent programme had exceeded his “wildest expectations”.
In past years, the top 50 – which accounts for just 7 per cent of the 1,200 associations in England – has accounted for less than half of the sector’s house building efforts.
The research also reveals that Sanctuary Group will become the first English association to own or manage more than 80,000 homes making it the sector’s biggest developer.
It plans to build 8,000 homes by 2015, which means that if the Homes and Communities Agency accepts its bid the association would deliver around 5 per cent of the government’s overall housing target.
