External credit ratings provide a useful insight into the financial robustness of an organisation.
“The credit profile of Great Places Housing Group (Great Places, A3 stable) reflects its strong balance sheet, its solid operating margin, an expected sharp increase in capital expenditure and its volatile exposure to market sales. Great Places’ credit profile also benefits from our assessment that there is a strong likelihood that the government of the United Kingdom (UK, Aa3 stable) would act in a timely manner to prevent a default.”
Following the change of the UK sovereign from a negative outlook to stable outlook, Moody’s have updated the credit opinions of 61 UK institutions including Great Places. Previously Moody’s had cut the outlook for UK housing associations from stable to negative in November 2022, which has now been reversed.
“The credit profile of Great Places Housing Group (Great Places, A3 negative) reflects its strong balance sheet, its solid operating margin – although weakened, the sharp increase in capital expenditure and its volatile exposure to market sales. Great Places’ credit profile also benefits from our assessment that there is a strong likelihood that the government of the United Kingdom (UK, Aa3 negative) would intervene in the event that Great Places faces acute liquidity stress.”
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October 2025: Fitch Revises Great Places Housing’s Outlook to Negative; Affirms at ‘A’
Commenting on the latest rating from Fitch, Mike Gerrard, Chief Finance Officer at Great Places, said:
“The change is not unexpected, particularly in light of the wider economic challenges currently facing the sector.
“Across the board, housing associations are increasing investment in their homes to meet evolving legislative and regulatory requirements. At Great Places, we are committed to ensuring our homes are well maintained, safe, and energy efficient — because we firmly believe this is the right thing to do for our customers and for the long-term sustainability of our organisation.
“We are delivering much-needed affordable homes as we fulfil our commitments through Homes England’s Affordable Homes Programme. With most homes being delivered using Strategic Partnership 2 (SP2) funding, the grant has been upfront and so the revised outlook from Fitch reflects the anticipated rise in borrowing levels as we complete this programme.
“We are confident in our financial strategy and our ability to manage this planned investment and new home delivery responsibly, ensuring long-term value and continued support for the communities we serve.”
