Aster to invest £500m over next five years on new homes after posting profit increase

Highlights:

• Pre-tax profits reach £34.1m - a year-on-year increase of 20 per cent
• Efficiency savings resulted in a £4.5m fall in operating costs
• Cash invested in new homes increased by £5m to £108m
• Group plans an increased focus on land-led schemes over which it has greater control over delivery
• Revenues reach £179m (up by 2.3 per cent) – a record high

Ethical housing developer Aster Group is aiming to invest £500m in building new homes over the next five years after reporting a 20 per cent year-on-year rise in pre-tax profit to £34.1m.

As part of its development push, a large proportion of its new homes will be available for sale under shared ownership schemes and private sale.

In addition, it is looking to direct more resources to acquiring land to gain greater control over the delivery, design and flexibility of its development programme. Projects delivered in partnership with private developers will also remain a crucial part of its future programme.

Overall, the developer built 633 new affordable homes last year across its core markets of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Devon & Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset.

Aster also reported record revenues of £179m – a 2.3 per cent increase on 2015 – of which its growing shared ownership development programme accounted for more than nine per cent.

John Brace, group resources director at Aster Group, said: “Our strong profit performance has given us the financial strength we need to deliver an ambitious and diverse development programme.

 “We have a simple mission, which is driven by the belief that everyone should have a home. We see it as our role to fulfil that duty for the large sections of our society that are priced out of the private housing market. For this, homes available to buy under shared ownership and affordable rent are both vital.”