Social housing providers across England are preparing to commit unprecedented sums to repairing existing homes while continuing to increase investment in new affordable housing,
according to new figures from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).
The regulator’s 2026 Financial Forecasts of Private Registered Providers, published on 6 October, suggest that the financial outlook for the social housing sector is beginning to stabilise after several years of mounting pressure. However, landlords continue to face difficult choices over how to balance investment in existing properties with the construction of new homes.
The forecasts show that providers are planning record levels of spending on repairs and maintenance. At the same time, development programmes are expected to grow, reversing a recent downward trend in plans for new housing.
RSH Director of Strategy Will Perry said the latest figures demonstrated that landlords remained committed to improving existing homes while expanding the supply of affordable housing.
“The sector’s long-term ambition is clear: more investment in existing homes, more new homes and more for social rent,” Perry said. “These are not easy trade-offs, and the financial pressures need to be managed really carefully.”
He added that the regulator would continue to focus on ensuring landlords had sufficient financial resilience and were properly assessing the risks associated with their investment plans.
The latest Financial Forecast Returns (FFR) indicate that the sector’s aggregate interest cover over the first five years of landlords’ business plans is broadly unchanged from the previous forecasting round. This is significant because interest cover had deteriorated consistently in successive forecasts in recent years.
The improvement is partly attributed to a slower rate of growth in planned repairs and maintenance costs, together with stronger growth in rental and other income.
Development plans have also strengthened. Over the first five years of the latest forecasts, providers have modestly increased their planned investment in new homes, reversing the decline recorded in previous rounds.
The increase becomes considerably more pronounced over the longer term. Providers are planning higher levels of development during the 10-year period covered by the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), reflecting bids for government funding that were being prepared when the financial forecasts were submitted.
Meeting these investment ambitions will require substantial additional borrowing and public funding.
Providers collectively expect to raise £54.7 billion in new borrowing over the first five years of their plans, while forecasting a further £16.3 billion in grant funding over the same period.
The figures nevertheless highlight significant differences between individual providers. Financial pressures are particularly pronounced among the largest landlords, with organisations managing more than 40,000 homes generally reporting tighter financial positions.
The regulator cautioned that the forecasts do not yet capture a number of major economic and geopolitical developments. The financial plans were prepared in early 2026 and therefore do not fully reflect subsequent changes in global economic conditions, inflation and interest rates, or the final outcomes of applications under the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
Those factors are expected to have a significant bearing on the next round of financial forecasts.
The latest figures underline the scale of the challenge facing England’s social housing sector: landlords are being expected simultaneously to improve the quality and safety of existing homes, increase repairs and maintenance, expand the supply of affordable and social-rent properties, and maintain sufficient financial resilience to withstand economic uncertainty.
