The lifting of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) cap has helped council-owned housing companies increase their new-build housing targets by 70% in the past year, a new survey has revealed.

A survey by the National Federation of ALMOs found council-owned companies are planning to build 12,352 homes over the next five years.

This is up from 7,267 in December 2018 when the HRA cap had only just been lifted.

Eamon McGoldrick, managing director of the National Federation of ALMOs, said: 'While it’s impossible to say whether they will now be able to fulfil those targets, the figures show that these council-owned companies already have the experience and the ambition to dramatically scale up building of affordable rented housing, if they get the right support.

'And our members believe this is exactly what the country will need to meet the explosion in housing need they are expecting when the coronavirus crisis is over.'

However, the survey also warned that the erosion of stock through Right to Buy sales has continued. While ALMOs built or acquired 1,961 homes last year, 2,348 were sold.