Social housing providers continue to face significant financial pressures from the trade-off between more and better social homes, but the outlook is becoming more stable, according to the Regulator of Social Housing’s financial forecasts report for 2026.

This year’s FFR data indicates that landlords are once again preparing to invest record amounts in repairs while maintaining their ambition to build more affordable homes.

RSH Director of Strategy Will Perry said: “The sector’s long-term ambition is clear: more investment in existing homes, more new homes and more for social rent. These are not easy trade-offs, and the financial pressures need to be managed really carefully.

“Our job is to make sure landlords are alert to the risks and have the transparency, resilience and strategic focus needed to navigate them while delivering for tenants.”

The report shows aggregate interest cover over the first five years of plans comparable to that in the last set of forecasts – a metric which has previously been declining in each successive year.

Key factors in this are a slowing in the rate of increase in repairs and maintenance expenditure combined with increased income growth.

There has been a modest increase in development plans over the first five years, reversing the trend seen in recent forecasts.

A more substantial increase is seen over the 10-year term of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), reflecting bids for grant that were being made at the time the plans were submitted.

To fund these plans, there is a greater increase in debt than has been seen in recent years with £54.7bn of new borrowing required over the first five years of plans and additional grant of £16.3bn forecast over the same period.

There remains substantial variation within sector with the largest providers (with over 40,000 homes) generally having a tighter financial position.

RSH says landlords’ financial plans were prepared in early 2026 so do not fully reflect the financial impact of ongoing global events, consequential changes to inflation and interest rates, or outcomes of SAHP bid submissions – all of which are likely to influence the next set of submissions.