MRI HousingBrixx — Deep Research Report
Date: 18 February 2026
Sources: MRI Software website, G-Cloud Digital Marketplace, Two Rhodes, 2Tix Ltd, Altair, Gemini, Perplexity Pro, sector reports
Table of Contents
- Full Feature Set
- Partner/Consultant Ecosystem
- Pricing Intelligence
- Technical Architecture
- User Pain Points
- Regulatory Requirements
- Market Dynamics
1. Full Feature Set
Overview
MRI HousingBrixx is the dominant financial modelling and business planning tool for UK social housing, used by 370+ social housing providers and local authorities. It replaces spreadsheet-based financial models with an object-based system ensuring data integrity and regulatory compliance.
Core Capabilities
30-Year Financial Forecasting & Business Planning
- 30-year rolling financial forecasts generating integrated I&E, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow statements
- Object-based modelling: ~300 intelligent, non-breakable "building block" objects (tenures, loans, management costs, rent regimes, development projects)
- Users control only inputs; outputs are locked down — eliminates formula breakage
- Objects can be modified by frequency, duration, title, and date
- Rolling monthly forecasts exportable to Excel
- Supports custom timeframes beyond 30 years
Scenario Planning & Stress Testing
- Multi-variable flexing: flex business plans across multiple variables and permutations
- Common stress scenarios: inflation/CPI/RPI changes, rent cap legislation, welfare reform (voids/arrears/bad debts), efficiency savings shortfalls
- Test vacancy rates (2-10%), maintenance surges, grant cuts, expansion scenarios
- Dynamic enough for live use in board meetings — show immediate financial impact of proposed decisions
- Recognised as best-practice by regulators and lenders
Loan Covenant Monitoring & Treasury Management
- Automatic calculation of key covenants: Interest Cover, Gearing, DSCR, ICR, LTV
- ~50 treasury reports covering debt contracts, interest (fixed/floating), cash flow analysis
- Headroom tracking against lender requirements with early breach warnings
- Models complex loan structures including variable rates and different repayment profiles
- Property-level debt modelling and portfolio grouping
- Notional allocations across properties/portfolios/funds
- Strategic treasury forecasting (separate from MRI's Debt Management module for day-to-day transactional accounting)
FFR Submission & Regulatory Compliance
- Templates and reports tailored for FFR (Financial Forecast Return) and SDR (Statistical Data Return)
- Compliant with RSH (Regulator of Social Housing) and Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR)
- NROSH+ ready: reports generated in formats for direct data entry/upload to NROSH+ portal
- Automatic calculation of sector-specific Value for Money (VfM) metrics
- Pre-submission validation checks mirroring RSH's hard and soft validation rules
- FFR export as standardised Excel (.xlsx) matching NROSH+ Bulk Import Template
- Multi-tabbed worksheets: SOCI, SOFP, and detailed 30-year cash flow projections
- Annual mapping updates to align with new RSH FFR template changes
Reporting & Dashboards
- ~50 standard financial, treasury, and operational reports
- 6 standard dashboards with ~50 graphs
- Graphical KPIs: rent collection rates, operating margins per unit, LTV ratios
- VfM metrics automatically calculated
- Social Housing SORP-compliant outputs
- FRS 102-aligned accounting
Consolidation
- Instant one-click consolidation: merge plans from different sections/subsidiaries into group view
- Supports group consolidated business plans for regulators and lenders
- Each HA builds bespoke model within standard components
Development Appraisals
- Seamless integration with DevelopmentBrixx for site-specific appraisals (land value, build costs, tenure mix)
- Import completed appraisals directly into main business plan
- Assess how development schemes impact 30-year cash flow and covenant compliance
Audit & Governance
- Comprehensive audit trail: logs who performed what action and when
- Full activity history for every change to the model
- Critical for regulatory and lender compliance
Hosting & Delivery
- Available as SaaS (HostedBrixx) — no implementation or upgrade administration
- Fully managed cloud: security patches, backups, upgrades handled by MRI
- Remote access capability
2. Partner/Consultant Ecosystem
Overview
The HousingBrixx ecosystem relies heavily on a small network of accredited third-party consultancies for implementation, training, and ongoing support. This creates a significant consultant dependency that is both a strength (deep expertise) and weakness (cost, bottleneck) for housing associations.
Key Partners
Altair (altairltd.co.uk)
- Type: Premier social housing consultancy, Certified HousingBrixx Partner
- Parent: Part of Aquila Services Group plc
- Services:
- New software implementation
- Hands-on training
- Bespoke business plan construction
- Pre/post-merger financial modelling
- Treasury advisory
- Stress testing
- "Altair Brixx dashboard reporting" — visualises lender covenants and financial indicators for boards
- Specialisation: High-level strategic work (mergers, acquisitions, funding memorandums)
- Website: altairltd.co.uk — general consultancy site; doesn't prominently feature HousingBrixx-specific pages on homepage
Two Rhodes (tworhodes.com)
- Type: Accredited MRI HousingBrixx Partner
- Led by: Frances Rhodes (Managing Director) — also a shareholder in Aquila Services Group plc (Altair's parent)
- Team: 4 named consultants (Francesca, Elton, Robin, Simon)
- Services:
- New Brixx implementation projects
- Subsequent Brixx updates
- Loan refinancing and credit rating projects
- Regulatory assurance
- Stress testing and mitigation planning
- Merger and acquisition support (due diligence, negotiations)
- Process improvements
- Interim senior finance team (financial analysts, business analysts)
- Finance team development and training (business planning, liquidity forecasting, treasury management)
- Scale: Services to 50+ social housing organisations throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and NI
- Positioning: "Hands on" support; friendly but testing style
2Tix Ltd (2tix.ltd)
- Type: HousingBrixx Certified Partner, FCA-regulated Corporate Finance Advisory firm
- Founded: 2020
- Key personnel:
- Soren Krarup — previously managed HousingBrixx product at MRI for 8+ years, implemented for 300+ organisations
- Paul Hackett
- Clive Eccleston
- Services:
- Advanced HousingBrixx training
- Comprehensive plan reviews
- PowerBI dashboard visualisations for HousingBrixx data
- Treasury management
- Business planning services
- Funding advice
- Treasury training partner of HQN Ltd
- Partnerships: Partners with Abovo-Consult (another HousingBrixx partner); represents Nordkap AB (Treasury Management System) in the UK
- FCA regulated: Authorised for corporate finance advice
Other Known Partners
- Abovo-Consult: HousingBrixx partner; offers "Helpline" and "Retainer" contracts
- MRI Training Academy: Official 2-day foundational course at £1,020 inc. VAT; covers UI navigation, structured plans, data entry, opening balances, consolidation, version control
- MRI Solution Optimisation Team: Customised on-site training
Consultant Dependency Assessment
- HIGH dependency: Many HAs cannot flex complex scenarios without external help
- Official board docs (e.g., Hebridean Housing Partnership) list "reducing dependency on third-party consultants" as strategic objective
- Under 20% of HAs have full grasp of their existing tech
- Consultants retained on retainer/helpline contracts just to keep models "audit-ready"
- Partners engaged during: initial implementation, strategic reshaping (mergers), ongoing compliance "health checks"
- Consultant day rates: MRI's own rates £1,000–£1,300/day; partner rates likely similar
3. Pricing Intelligence
G-Cloud 14 Pricing (Tiered by Managed Properties)
| Managed Properties |
Annual License Fee |
| Up to 1,000 units |
£5,460 |
| Up to 2,500 units |
£7,090 |
| Up to 5,000 units |
£8,975 |
| Up to 10,000 units |
£12,240 |
| Up to 25,000 units |
£18,315 |
| Up to 50,000 units |
£22,645 |
| Above 50,000 units |
£22,645 + £3,825 per 20,000-unit increment |
G-Cloud Service ID: 520510846921161 (Lot 2: Cloud Software)
Additional Costs
- Additional user licenses: £1,350/year per user (beyond base inclusion of ~1 user)
- Dashboards & Analytics add-on: from £555/year (up to 1,000 units); additional dashboard users £360–£740/user
- Training: £850–£1,020 per attendee (MRI Academy 2-day course)
- Custom on-site training: Priced separately via Solution Optimisation Team
- Hosting & support: Generally included in annual fee (UK Tier 3 data centre)
Implementation & Professional Services
- Consultant day rate: £1,000–£1,300/day (MRI's SFIA rate card)
- Data migration: Separate scoping exercise; additional fees based on legacy data complexity
- Implementation excluded from annual license — billed time-and-materials
Real Contract Values (Procurement Records)
| Organisation |
Value |
Scope |
Period |
| Longhurst Group (Nov 2024) |
£99,000 |
HousingBrixx modules + mobile support |
Via technology catalogue |
| Two Rivers Housing (Dec 2025) |
£315,218 |
MRI "Financials suite" |
41 months (~£92k/yr) |
| Southern Housing (Oct 2025) |
£2,389,582 |
MRI Housing Enterprise (Brixx as component) |
3 years |
Contract Terms
- Initial 36 months, optional extensions to 48 months maximum (G-Cloud 14)
- Annual inflationary uplift: typically 5.5% or RPI/CPI
- No free trials; no educational discounts
Total Cost Estimate (Typical Mid-Size HA, ~10,000 units)
| Item |
Year 1 |
Ongoing/Year |
| License |
£12,240 |
£12,240 |
| Additional users (3) |
£4,050 |
£4,050 |
| Implementation (10 days) |
£12,000 |
— |
| Training (4 staff) |
£4,080 |
— |
| Consultant retainer |
— |
£5,000–£15,000 |
| Total |
~£32,370 |
~£21,290–£31,290 |
4. Technical Architecture
Deployment
- Primary: SaaS/Private Cloud ("HostedBrixx") on Microsoft Azure (MRI Cloud)
- Legacy: On-premise option existed (Windows Server 2019/2022 + MS SQL Server)
- Current push is cloud-centric; on-premise likely deprecated or discouraged
- UK/EEA data centres with ISO 27001 security
- Heavily redundant hosted setup with user separation and performance isolation
Database
- Microsoft SQL Server (Standard or Express) — confirmed for legacy/hybrid
- SQL databases encrypted at rest with transparent data encryption
- Cloud version likely Azure SQL or similar managed service
Application Architecture
- Object-Oriented Technology: ~300 intelligent building block objects
- Objects map to a central Chart of Accounts with inherent double-entry integrity
- Web browser interface (Chrome, Edge) for SaaS; legacy Windows client existed
- Comprehensive audit logging at the object/user/timestamp level
API & Integration
- MRI MIX (Information eXchange): Primary integration layer
- RESTful APIs: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE for external system data exchange
- HTTP-based calls with business rule enforcement
- Standard integrations:
- Financial: MRI OpenAccounts, Advanced Financials, Xero
- Housing Management: MRI Housing Management (Enterprise), Orchard, Aareon
- Data import/export: CSV, XLS, PNG, HTML; flat file imports/exports
- API documentation available; custom setups are chargeable
- Partners typically handle field mapping for integrations
- Standardised Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) file
- Matches RSH's NROSH+ Bulk Import Template
- Multi-tabbed worksheets: SOCI, SOFP, 30-year cash flow projections
- Pre-submission validation checks (hard and soft rules)
- Users map internal building block objects to RSH lines automatically
- Updated annually to match new FFR template changes (typically released March)
- DevelopmentBrixx: Development appraisals — integrates directly
- MRI Debt Management: Day-to-day transactional treasury accounting
- MRI OpenAccounts / Advanced Financials: Core finance/accounting
- MRI Housing Enterprise: Core HMS (property, tenancy, income management)
- MRI Agora Platform: New AI-enhanced unified data layer (future direction)
5. User Pain Points
Consultant Dependency (Critical Pain)
- Most HAs cannot independently maintain or update complex business models
- External consultants needed for: mergers, stress testing, funding memorandums, annual updates
- Consultant retainer contracts common just for "audit-ready" maintenance
- Strategic objectives at HA board level include "reducing dependency on consultants"
- Under 20% of HAs fully understand their own tech stack
Usability Issues
- "Everything is a process": Even small model changes involve excessive steps
- Steep learning curve: Difficult to navigate at first; significant training investment required
- Rigid interface: Reports can go "out of date quickly" due to inflexibility
- New staff struggle to pick up without formal training (£1,020+ per person)
Spreadsheet Escape Hatch
- Finance directors frequently export data back into Excel for ad-hoc "what-if" analysis
- Excel perceived as faster for quick queries despite Brixx's scenario tools
- Tension between Brixx's locked-down integrity and Excel's flexibility
- FDs caught between "two flawed options"
Integration Friction
- Despite "Open and Connected" marketing, users report siloed data
- Manual reformatting often still required before ingestion into business plan
- "One-click consolidation" requires clean underlying data structure — if data is messy, consolidation remains slow and error-prone
Service Reliability
- 1,695+ incidents affecting core functions tracked since 2020
- Service outages documented
- SaaS dependency means no workaround during downtime
Cost Concerns
- License + consultants + training = significant ongoing cost
- 5.5% annual uplift compounds rapidly
- Smaller HAs feel disproportionate burden
- Implementation costs often underestimated
Legacy Lock-in
- Many HAs on legacy versions no longer fully supported
- Migration to new versions/cloud is itself a costly project
- Switching to alternatives carries high risk (manual model rebuild required)
6. Regulatory Requirements
FFR (Financial Forecast Return)
- Mandatory for providers owning 1,000+ units on 31 March
- Annual submission deadline: 30 June
- Submitted on group consolidated basis with supporting business plans and board papers
- 30-year financial projections required for all years
FFR Structure (4 Parts)
- Part 1 — Front Sheet: Year-end date, listed subsidiaries, non-registered group entities
- Part 2 — Statements (101+ lines across 3 sections):
- Statement of Comprehensive Income (Lines 1-59): Rents receivable, service charges, rent losses from voids, amortised government grants, revenue grants, major repair grants, support service charges, shared ownership sales, management costs, service costs, routine/planned maintenance, major repairs, bad debts, lease charges, depreciation, impairment, exceptional items
- Statement of Financial Position (Lines 60-101): Intangible assets, housing properties (cost and valuation), other tangible fixed assets, investment properties, joint ventures/associates, properties for sale, stock/WIP, debtors, cash, short/long-term debt, finance leases, deferred capital grants
- Statement of Cash Flow (Lines 102-132): Operating, investing, financing activities
- All values in £000s to 1 decimal place
- Submitted via NROSH+ portal
2025/26 FFR Changes
- New disposal lines (Line 116)
- Focus on EBITDA MRI metric
- Updated terminology for Decent Homes Standard failures
RSH Governance & Financial Viability Standard
- Boards must own stress testing and understand impacts from economic cycles
- Comprehensive data and stress testing required to anticipate/mitigate risks
- Focus on robust recovery planning arrangements
- 2025 Sector Risk Profile: stress-test against rising costs and market volatility
Stress Testing Requirements (Regulators & Lenders)
- Three core financial tests:
- NPV: Schemes must deliver positive NPV over 30-40 years
- Loan repayment: Can scheme repay within 30-35 years without covenant breach?
- Cost-to-value ratio: Particularly for S106 deals
- Common stress variables: inflation, rent caps, voids, arrears, interest rates, maintenance costs
- Forecasts stress-tested against business plan to ensure no covenant breach
- Boards expected to demonstrate they've tested "downside" scenarios
SORP / FRS 102 Compliance
- Housing SORP 2026 (aligned with revised FRS 102, published Sept 2024):
- Effective 1 January 2026 (1 April 2027 for March year-ends)
- Revised income recognition: five-step model for service charges as customer contracts
- Grant income remains non-exchange transaction
- New lease accounting: right-to-use asset capitalisation (exceptions for short-term/low-value)
- Regeneration scheme accounting clarifications
- Capitalisation of building safety and decarbonisation costs
- Non-compliance provisions for Decent Homes Standards
- Strategic reports mandatory for providers with 1,000+ homes (reduced from 5,000)
Building Safety Act
- Applies to higher-risk buildings (18m+ or 7+ storeys with residential use)
- Requirements: duty holders, "golden thread" of safety-critical digital records, Safety Case Reports
- Updated fire risk assessments, PEEPs for vulnerable tenants
- Financial implications: remediation costs, building-level data requirements
- Phase 2 (Oct 2026): Extension to all 29 HHSRS hazards
- Non-compliance: enforcement notices, fines
ESG/Sustainability Reporting
- Sustainability Reporting Standard (SRS) v2.1 expected Spring 2026
- 170+ adopters reporting on:
- EPC ratings (target: all homes EPC C by 2030)
- Damp & mould (enhanced mandatory disclosures)
- Net zero: Scope 1, 2, 3 emissions; SBTi alignment
- Increasingly integrated into business planning and investor reporting
Other Key Compliance Dates 2025-2026
| Requirement |
Frequency |
Key Change |
| FFR |
Annual (June) |
New disposal lines; EBITDA MRI focus |
| TSMs |
Annual (June) |
New Electrical Safety Check TSM |
| FRS (Fire Risk) |
Quarterly |
Mandatory building-level remediation data |
| SDR |
Annual (May) |
Updated DHS terminology |
| Competence Standard |
Ongoing |
Mandatory qualifications for senior managers (Oct 2026) |
| Electrical Safety |
Nov 2025 (new) / May 2026 (existing) |
New tenancy regulations |
| Awaab's Law |
2026-2027 |
Damp & mould response timescales |
7. Market Dynamics
Current Market Position
- HousingBrixx dominates with 370-450 users (virtually the entire mid-to-large HA market)
- Near-monopoly in strategic 30-year business planning for UK social housing
- Recognised as best-practice by RSH, SHR, and major lenders
- Deep institutional entrenchment — regulators and lenders expect HousingBrixx-style outputs
Competitors & Alternatives
| Software |
Provider |
Focus |
Users |
| WALS |
Ortec Finance |
100-year cash flow projections, Monte Carlo stress testing, unit-level asset data |
Entering UK market (Dutch incumbent) |
| ProVal |
SDS (Sequel) |
Development viability appraisals (30-40yr schemes) |
200+ UK users |
| iplicit / Xledger |
Various |
Cloud-native finance (alternative to MRI OpenAccounts) |
Growing |
| SunSystems |
Infor (via LAKE/Wave) |
Enterprise financial management, SORP/FRS 102 |
Established |
| Lucidity |
Lucidity |
Corporate planning, strategy-to-operations |
Niche |
| Landlord Vision |
Various |
Cloud-based, affordable (from £19.97/mo) |
Small/mid-size |
| Aareon QL |
Aareon |
Full HMS with financial components |
Large UK providers |
| Spreadsheets |
Internal |
Still used by many, especially smaller HAs |
Widespread |
Switching Dynamics
- Switching cost is extremely high:
- No standardised export for full business plans — requires manual rebuild of dozens/hundreds of financial models
- Parallel running required for at least one full reporting cycle ("double-bubble" licensing)
- Training investment essentially starts over
- Estimated switching costs 16x higher than prevention planning costs
- Contract lengths: Typically 36 months initial + 12 months extension (G-Cloud)
- Annual uplift: 5.5% or RPI/CPI locks in increasing costs over time
When Do HAs Switch/Renew?
- Typically aligned with broader technology strategy reviews
- Often triggered by: mergers/acquisitions, major system refresh, new CFO, regulatory pressure
- 10-year rent settlement (CPI + 1% from April 2026) is causing business plan refreshes sector-wide
- Cloud adoption accelerating: 47% of social housing orgs now cloud-only (highest sector increase 2024/25)
MRI's Strategic Direction
- Transitioning toward MRI Agora platform (AI-enhanced, unified data layer)
- HousingBrixx still supported but "optimisation" narrative suggests eventual absorption
- Acquisition of Capita One Housing signals ongoing consolidation
- MRI positioning for lock-in through broader ecosystem (HMS + Finance + Brixx + Asset Management)
Evidence of Switching Away
- Very limited evidence of HAs switching away from HousingBrixx specifically
- Some movement toward cloud-native finance systems (iplicit, Xledger) for core accounting
- WALS (Ortec Finance) is the most credible emerging threat for strategic modelling
- Most "switches" are additions (e.g., adding ProVal for development appraisals) rather than replacements
- EU Data Act (effective Jan 2027) will eliminate switching/data egress charges — could reduce barriers
Key Market Trends
- Business plan viability horizon extending from 25 to ~40 years due to decarbonisation and rising build costs
- Increasing regulatory complexity (Building Safety Act, Awaab's Law, ESG) demands more sophisticated modelling
- Sector operating margins at historically low levels (17.3%) — "little margin for error"
- Cash reserves declining for 4th consecutive year (£5.1bn, -8% YoY)
- Rent growth slowing: 6.0% → 3.8% → 3.3% → 3.1% → 3.0% over next 5 years
Key Takeaways for Competitive Analysis
- HousingBrixx is deeply entrenched but not beloved — users tolerate it because alternatives are worse or switching is prohibitive
- Consultant dependency is the #1 pain — HAs spend £5,000-£50,000+/year on external consultants just to operate the tool
- Pricing is modest for software (£5k-£23k/year) but total cost of ownership is 2-4x when including consultants, training, and implementation
- The FFR is the regulatory anchor — any competitor must produce FFR-compliant outputs or die
- Excel remains the shadow competitor — FDs constantly export to Excel for ad-hoc analysis, revealing HousingBrixx's flexibility gap
- The market window is opening: SORP 2026 changes, Building Safety Act, ESG requirements, and the CPI+1% rent settlement are all forcing business plan refreshes — a natural moment to evaluate alternatives
- Cloud-native, self-service, and AI-enhanced tools could disrupt if they nail the FFR/regulatory compliance while reducing consultant dependency