This is the first Annual review of housing association private finance.  It replaces the Private finance monitoring bulletin which we have published, with the National Housing Federation, in previous years.  Much of the data reflected in the review was supplied, via the Private Finance Regulatory Return (PFRR), by housing associations registered with the Housing Corporation and with more than 250 units in management.

In replacing the monitoring bulletin, this annual review:

• Focuses on activities in the year to 31 March 2005 rather than on the cumulative level of activity since the concept of private finance in the sector was introduced by the Housing Act 1988, and
• Draws on the full range of information we collect relating to private finance and treasury management, for example in annual accounts and annual efficiency statements, to give a rounder picture of what is happening in the sector.