Development soars at Peabody in first accounts since Catalyst merger

Peabody has reported sharp increases in turnover, surplus and development in its first accounts since its merger with 37,000 home landlord Catalyst. 

In its accounts for the 2022/23 financial year, the 107,000-home housing association reported its surplus was up to £257m from £213m, on the back of a 66% increase in turnover to £1.1bn. 

The organisation also saw the number of homes it completed increase nearly threefold to 2,399, from 866 in the prior year, following the completion of the merger in April 2022.

The organisation said its turnover was higher than expected due to the outperformance of revenue from private sales and first tranche shared ownership. 

Peabody, which serves customers across London and the Home Counties, spent £179m on existing repairs – up from £113m – including £66m on building and fire safety work. 

It also increased its annual spend on development, investing £567m in new homes. This represented a 17% increase on the total amount spent by Peabody and Catalyst in the prior year, which was £355m and £128m respectively. 

The group completed 2,399 homes in the year to March, after reporting ”strong progress” on its major developments in Dagenham, Islington, Tottenham and Oxford. 

Peabody earlier this year said it had originally intended to spend even more but was forced to rebalance expenditure to focus on existing homes and respond to the broader economic environment.

In the annual report published today, Ian McDermott, chief executive, said the merger had been driven by the desire to “go further and faster, investing more in our homes and communities”, but that the world had “dramatically changes”, with market forces making this increasingly difficult. 

“The war in Eastern Europe, the energy crisis, 40-year high inflation and rapidly rising interest rates have all had a serious impact,” he said.  

“While we are not where we had hoped to be, we are certainly in a much better place than we would have been as separate organisations.” 

McDermott also paid tribute to the firm’s late chairman Lord Kerslake, who died in July, describing him as “a remarkable person dedicated to improving people’s lives”.