Losses mount at billionaire-owned for-profit despite stock acquisitions surge

“Rental income has increased in line with purchases of rented social housing,” the accounts said.

MTD Housing has pursued a stock acquisition strategy over the past few years, buying hundreds of homes from non-profit housing associations.

In 2024, the for-profit purchased 327 shared ownership homes from Peabody and 458 homes from A2Dominion.

In November 2025, large housing association Sanctuary proposed a transfer of 300 shared ownership homes to MTD.

During 2024-25, MTD also made profits of £329,696 on the sale of investment properties.

The for-profit provider is backed by William Pears Group, which owns thousands of properties across the UK.

The Pears property empire is overseen by brothers Mark Pears, David Pears and Sir Trevor Pears. The family ranked 47th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2025, with an estimated net worth of £3.5bn.

During 2024-25, MTD acquired properties with associated grant funding amounting to £10.1m. At the end of the year, its grant balance was £20.6m. If these supported properties are sold or taken out of social housing, MTD will be required to repay the grant to government bodies.

In 2024-25, MTD identified an error in the accounting treatment of a government grant contingent liability in the prior period. The company incorrectly recognised the grant repayable amount as a liability in its financial statements. It made a prior year adjustment to correct this error, but the adjustment has no impact on the current or prior year’s profit or loss.

MTD became a registered provider of social housing in 2018. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of St Ermin’s Property Co, which is itself owned by the Pears family.

The directors of St Ermin’s are Mark Pears, Sir Trevor Pears and David Pears. In its most recently published financial accounts for 2023-24, St Ermin’s Property Co recorded a post-tax profit of £9.2m.