Hyde applies to register four new for-profit providers

Plans for the new for-profits were first announced in late 2024, when Hyde’s then-chief investment officer Guy Slocombe told an Inside Housing event that “three new for-profits” were in the pipeline and would be partnerships with “three new investors”. He did not reveal their identity.

Hyde already part-owns one registered for-profit provider, Halesworth Limited. Halesworth completed its registration with the English regulator in 2022. Hyde then sold a 50% stake in the for-profit to French insurance giant Axa.

Halesworth was intended to grow alongside a development vehicle, Newton Development Partners, in which Axa, Homes England and Hyde had invested £200m of equity. However, the plan hit the buffers in late 2022 due to the impact on capital markets and asset pricing resulting from the previous government’s mini-Budget.

The housing association has also struck a series of shared ownership deals with investment giant M&G in recent years. Under the agreement Hyde manages shared ownership homes that are owned and funded by M&G’s for-profit provider.

Currently, there are just 80 for-profit providers in England registered with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH). Registration can take up to two years, with many applicants failing. 

The difficulties of registering a new for-profit has led to a lucrative trade in selling existing pre-registered for-profits as shell companies to new players wishing to enter the affordable housing market.

Last month a for-profit affordable housing provider called Castle Housing was allegedly sold for £4m, although earlier for-profit sales have fetched closer to £2m.