Social housing providers own 2,586,115 homes, a 2.4% increase on the total for 2011 according to the HCA's Statistical Data Return (SDR) which has been published today for the first time.

The data comes from an annual survey completed by all Private Registered Providers (PRPs) in England and includes data on size and type of home, location and rents over the year. Additional data for providers with 1,000 homes or more include lettings during the year and Right to Buy sales and acquisitions.

Key data points from the SDR include:

•PRPs reported a total of 2,655,742 homes managed (including management of properties owned by themselves or other PRPs), a 1% increase on the total for 2011.

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•1.4% (26,156) of General Needs stock was vacant. This is a slight reduction from the 2011 figure of 1.5%. Vacant Supported Housing and Housing for Older People stock reduced from 5.1% in 2011 to 4.4% in 2012.

•In 2011/12, 34,907 new homes were built and 6,332 were purchased by large PRPs.

•A total of 4,114 homes were sold to tenants, 3,989 were demolished and 3,463 were disposed of for non-social housing use by large PRPs.

•The average net rent for General Needs stock owned by large PRPs was £83.20 per week at 31 March 2012. This represented a 6.3% increase from 2011. The average gross rent (including any service charges eligible for housing benefit) was £86.27 per week.

•At 31 March 2012, 1.9% of social rental stock owned by PRPs did not meet the Decent Homes Standard, including cases of tenants declining improvement works to their property. This was a reduction from the previous year, where 2.4% did not meet the standard.

Jonathan Walters, Deputy Director of Regulatory Operations at the HCA, said: "These data has been published as an important contribution to the regulator’s role in helping providers and others to increase understanding of the sector-wide context within which they operate, and is part of our commitment to transparency."

(CD)