Social Housing Repairs & Maintenance Spend Forecast to Reach £11.1bn: What It Means for Housing Providers and Contractors

Investment in existing social housing is continuing to rise.

The Regulator of Social Housing’s latest quarterly survey shows that registered providers spent £9.7 billion on repairs and maintenance in the 12 months to June 2026. That was 6% higher than the previous year and 18% higher than the year to June 2024.

More importantly for the direction of the market, providers are forecasting £11.1 billion of repairs and maintenance expenditure over the following 12 months, around 15% above the level actually spent in the year to June 2026.

For housing providers, asset teams and contractors, this is more than a large headline number. It reflects a sustained shift towards greater investment in existing homes, alongside continuing pressure around building condition, safety, energy performance, resident expectations and the quality of repairs.

Why spending on existing homes is increasing

The Regulator says repairs and maintenance costs have risen significantly in recent years, with increased focus on building safety and energy efficiency among the factors driving investment.

That change can be seen across both day-to-day repair activity and larger capital programmes.

Of the £11.1 billion forecast for the next 12 months, £5.8 billion relates to revenue expenditure and £5.3 billion to capitalised works. In practical terms, the sector is having to manage both immediate property needs and longer-term investment in its housing stock at the same time.

This creates a demanding operating environment.

Responsive repairs still need to be completed effectively. Empty homes need to be returned to use. Damp, leaks, roofing defects, joinery issues and other property problems need to be dealt with. At the same time, planned programmes and larger building-fabric works must be scoped, procured and delivered without losing control of cost, quality or resident communication.

The challenge is therefore not simply finding more budget. It is converting that investment into consistent delivery across thousands of individual properties and projects.

Contractor capacity will matter

Higher investment inevitably places more pressure on contractor supply chains.

Housing providers need sufficient delivery capacity across different trades, locations and work types. A supply chain that works well for a single planned programme may not necessarily be suited to varied responsive repairs, void properties or smaller multi-trade works.

This is where regional contractors can play an important role.

They do not need to replace larger national providers. Instead, they can strengthen a housing provider’s overall delivery model by providing additional local capacity, supporting defined geographic areas, undertaking specialist or multi-trade packages and helping absorb peaks in workload.

For housing providers operating across Lancashire and the wider North West, access to dependable regional contractors can also improve flexibility when work volumes change or new programmes are introduced.

The best contractor relationships are likely to be those built around capability, communication and consistent delivery rather than scale alone.

What housing providers should expect from maintenance contractors

As investment increases, contractor selection should go beyond the basic question of whether a supplier can complete a repair.

Housing providers should expect clear operational standards across the full job lifecycle.

That includes accurate scoping, realistic quotations, competent operatives, appropriate RAMS, clear scheduling, communication with residents or site contacts, variation control, job records, photographic evidence where appropriate, quality checks and dependable completion information.

For multi-trade works, coordination becomes particularly important.

A void property, for example, may require joinery, plastering, decoration, flooring, plumbing, external repairs and other works before it can be handed back. Treating each element as a disconnected task can increase administration and extend the overall programme.

A contractor that can coordinate several workstreams under one instruction can simplify delivery, but only if its own planning and quality-control processes are strong enough to manage that responsibility.

Reactive and planned maintenance need to work together

The growth in repairs expenditure also strengthens the case for better connection between reactive and planned maintenance.

Repeated reactive visits often provide useful information about underlying building condition. Recurring leaks, failing rainwater goods, deteriorating external joinery or repeated internal finishes repairs may point towards a wider issue that would be better addressed through planned works.

Housing providers that capture and act on that information can move from repeatedly treating symptoms towards addressing root causes.

Contractors can support this by recording defects properly, escalating recurring issues and providing clear evidence from site rather than simply closing individual tasks.

That does not remove the need for responsive repair services. It makes those services more valuable because information gathered through day-to-day delivery can help inform future asset decisions.

Void performance remains commercially important

Void properties are another area where maintenance performance has a direct operational and financial impact.

An empty property often requires multiple trades to work within a compressed programme. Delays between survey, quotation, approval, works and final handover can extend the void period even when the physical work itself is relatively straightforward.

Effective void delivery therefore depends on more than workmanship.

Clear scopes, prompt approvals, coordinated trades, sensible variation procedures and a defined quality check before handover are all important.

With the sector investing more heavily in existing homes, providers should be looking closely at whether their supply chains can manage this type of end-to-end delivery consistently.

A more demanding market for contractors

The £11.1 billion forecast represents opportunity for the construction and property-maintenance sector, but it should not be viewed as easy growth.

Housing providers are under pressure to demonstrate value, service quality and effective use of their budgets. Contractors will increasingly need to show that they can work within structured procurement and job-management environments while still remaining responsive on the ground.

That means having the fundamentals in place: health and safety controls, competent labour, reliable records, clear communication, commercial discipline and the operational capacity to deliver what has been promised.

For smaller and regional contractors, that is where the opportunity lies.

The organisations that can combine local responsiveness with the systems and standards expected by institutional clients are well positioned to become useful parts of wider housing-maintenance supply chains.

Supporting housing providers across the North West

Northern Trade Solutions supports housing providers, property managers and other organisations with responsive repairs, void property works, planned maintenance, refurbishment and wider multi-trade building works across Lancashire and the North West.

Our approach is built around practical delivery, clear job management, flexible multi-trade capability and accessible senior management.

As investment in existing homes continues to grow, the priority for the sector will be turning that funding into better maintained properties, stronger resident outcomes and sustainable long-term asset performance.

If your organisation is reviewing contractor capacity, upcoming maintenance programmes or regional delivery support, speak to the NTS team about your requirements.