Yorkshire Housing hails strong performance despite ‘challenging backdrop’
Yorkshire Housing has hailed a successful year despite what it described as a “challenging environment”, as the housing association built a total of 508 properties in the year.
The figure brought the association's total to 4,700 new homes completed or in progress against its target of building 8,000 homes by 2035. The target was firstlaunched in 2019.
It came as Yorkshire Housing released its annual report and financial statements for 2025. In the group’s 2024 financial year, 689 houses were completed.
Rob Parkes, executive director of finance and governance at Yorkshire Housing, said "This has been a year of strong financial performance despite a challenging environment.
“Surplus growth, rising rental income, and improved sales have strengthened our capacity to invest in both new and existing homes. At the same time, we've managed cost pressures by improving efficiency, while continuing to support our colleagues who work directly with customers.”
Yorkshire Housing saw its operating costs increase by £7.4m to £106.1m during the year to March 31 2025. The association said this rise was driven by an increasing demand for repairs and maintenance services.
The group saw its total operating surplus increase to £10.9m from £7.3m the year prior.
The association’s chief executive, Nick Atkin, said this came despite challenges from higher repairs volumes – a trend seen across the sector – and “stubbornly high interest rates”.
He added: “Despite the trajectory of the base rate, there is uncertainty around how this will change in the future. Consequently there has been significant volatility in the cost of borrowing.
“There remains a clear and urgent need to build more affordable homes. We’re passionate about doing everything we can to build those homes in our region. I’m proud that we completed 508 new homes in 2024/25, despite the external challenges.”
It comes after Yorkshire Housing earlier this year joined some of the UK’s largest housing associations in a submission to Government calling for decisive action on social housing.
The submission called for action on funding and a focus on renewing housing across the regions.
Mr Atkin said in Yorkshire Housing’s latest report: “We’ve been vocal in calling for some significant changes from Government.
"We want to see Government spending on housing reclassified as infrastructure to unlock funding, allow for longer term planning and be a catalyst for further private investment.
"We also asked for longer term certainty on rents and the ability to converge rents to the right level over time and were pleased to see this reflected in the Government’s Spending Review in June.”