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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 拢257m from 拢213m, on the back of a 66% increase in turnover to 拢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 拢179m on existing repairs 鈥� up from 拢113m 鈥� including 拢66m on building and fire safety work. 

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

The group completed 2,399 homes in the year to March, after reporting 鈥漵trong progress鈥� 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 鈥済o further and faster, investing more in our homes and communities鈥�, but that the world had 鈥渄ramatically changes鈥�, with market forces making this increasingly difficult. 

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

鈥淲hile 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.鈥� 

McDermott also paid tribute to the firm鈥檚 late chairman Lord Kerslake, who died in July, describing him as 鈥渁 remarkable person dedicated to improving people鈥檚 lives鈥�.