MRI HousingBrixx — Product & Competitive Intelligence¶
February 2026
Product Overview¶
MRI HousingBrixx is a strategic financial modelling and business planning platform designed specifically for UK social housing providers. It replaces spreadsheet-based financial models with an object-oriented system that produces integrated 30-year financial forecasts.
Key claims (from MRI Software):
- Used by 370+ social housing providers
- 3 million+ properties modelled
- Market-leading financial modelling recognised as best practice by housing regulators and lenders
- Available as SaaS (HostedBrixx) — fully managed cloud deployment
Full Feature Set¶
Core Capabilities¶
30-Year Financial Forecasting¶
- 30-year rolling monthly forecasts generating integrated Statement of Comprehensive Income (SOCI), Statement of Financial Position (SOFP), and Statement of Cash Flow
- ~300 intelligent building block objects — tenures, loans, management costs, rent regimes, development projects
- Object-based modelling: users control inputs only; outputs are formula-locked (eliminates spreadsheet breakage)
- Objects configurable by frequency, duration, title, and date
- Supports custom timeframes beyond 30 years
- Exportable to Excel at monthly/annual granularity
Scenario Planning & Stress Testing¶
- Multi-variable flexing across multiple variables and permutations
- Common stress scenarios: inflation/CPI/RPI changes, rent cap legislation, welfare reform (voids/arrears/bad debts), efficiency savings shortfalls, vacancy rates (2–10%), maintenance surges, grant cuts, expansion scenarios
- Dynamic enough for live use in board meetings — immediate financial impact of proposed decisions
- Recognised as best-practice methodology 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
- Complex loan structures: variable rates, 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)
FFR Submission & Regulatory Compliance¶
- Templates and reports tailored for FFR (Financial Forecast Return) and SDR (Statistical Data Return)
- Compliant with RSH and Scottish Housing Regulator
- NROSH+ ready: reports generated for direct data entry/upload to the 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
- Annual mapping updates to align with new 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¶
- 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¶
- 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
Technical Architecture¶
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Deployment | SaaS/Private Cloud ("HostedBrixx") on Microsoft Azure (MRI Cloud) |
| Legacy option | On-premise (Windows Server 2019/2022 + MS SQL Server) — likely deprecated |
| Database | Microsoft SQL Server (encrypted at rest with transparent data encryption) |
| Application | Object-oriented, ~300 building block objects mapped to Chart of Accounts with double-entry integrity |
| Interface | Web browser (Chrome, Edge) for SaaS |
| Security | ISO 27001 certified UK/EEA data centres |
| Integration layer | MRI MIX (Information eXchange) — RESTful APIs (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) |
| Standard integrations | MRI OpenAccounts, Advanced Financials, Xero, Orchard, Aareon |
| Data import/export | CSV, XLS, PNG, HTML; flat file imports/exports |
| FFR export | Standardised Excel (.xlsx) matching RSH NROSH+ Bulk Import Template |
| Audit | Object/user/timestamp-level logging |
Related MRI Products¶
- DevelopmentBrixx — Development appraisals (direct integration)
- 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)
- MRI Income Analytics — ML-powered arrears prediction
- MRI Housing One — Cloud-based HMS (ex-Capita One Housing)
Partner & Consultant Ecosystem¶
The HousingBrixx ecosystem relies heavily on a small network of accredited third-party consultancies. This creates a significant consultant dependency — both a revenue stream for partners and a cost burden for housing associations.
Altair (altairltd.co.uk)¶
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Premier social housing consultancy, Certified HousingBrixx Partner |
| Parent | Part of Aquila Services Group plc |
| Services | Implementation, training, bespoke business plan construction, pre/post-merger modelling, treasury advisory, stress testing |
| Specialisation | High-level strategic work: mergers, acquisitions, funding memorandums |
| Unique offering | "Altair Brixx dashboard reporting" — visualises lender covenants and financial indicators for boards |
Two Rhodes (tworhodes.com)¶
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Accredited MRI HousingBrixx Partner |
| Led by | Frances Rhodes (also a shareholder in Aquila Services Group / Altair's parent) |
| Team | 4 named consultants |
| Services | Implementation, updates, loan refinancing, credit rating projects, regulatory assurance, stress testing, M&A support, interim finance team services |
| Scale | 50+ social housing organisations across England, Wales, Scotland, NI |
2Tix Ltd (2tix.ltd)¶
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | HousingBrixx Certified Partner, FCA-regulated Corporate Finance Advisory |
| Founded | 2020 |
| Key person | Soren Krarup — previously managed HousingBrixx product at MRI for 8+ years, implemented for 300+ organisations |
| Services | Advanced training, plan reviews, PowerBI dashboard visualisations, treasury management, funding advice |
| Partnerships | Partners with Abovo-Consult; represents Nordkap AB (Treasury Management System) in UK; training partner of HQN Ltd |
Other Partners¶
- Abovo-Consult — HousingBrixx partner, offers helpline and retainer contracts
- MRI Training Academy — Official 2-day course at £1,020 inc. VAT
- MRI Solution Optimisation Team — Customised on-site training
Consultant Dependency: The Core Problem¶
Critical Market Insight
Consultant dependency is the single biggest pain point in the ecosystem — and the single biggest opportunity for disruption.
- Most HAs cannot independently maintain or update complex business models
- External consultants needed for: mergers, stress testing, funding memorandums, annual updates
- Consultant retainer contracts are common just for "audit-ready" maintenance
- Under 20% of HAs fully understand their existing technology
- Board documents (e.g., Hebridean Housing Partnership) explicitly list "reducing dependency on third-party consultants" as a strategic objective
- Consultant day rates: £1,000–£1,300/day (MRI's own SFIA rate card)
Pricing Breakdown¶
G-Cloud 14 Licence Tiers¶
| Managed Properties | Annual Licence 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 |
Additional Costs¶
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Additional user licence | £1,350/year per user |
| Dashboards & Analytics add-on (up to 1K units) | From £555/year |
| Additional dashboard users | £360–£740/user |
| Training (MRI Academy, 2 days) | £850–£1,020 per attendee |
| Custom on-site training | Priced separately |
| Consultant day rate | £1,000–£1,300/day |
| Data migration | Bespoke scoping, additional fees |
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
- Implementation excluded from annual licence — billed time-and-materials
Verified Contract Values¶
| Organisation | Value | Scope | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Longhurst Group (Nov 2024) | £99,000 | HousingBrixx modules + mobile | Multi-year |
| 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 |
User Pain Points¶
Consultant Dependency (Critical)¶
- Most HAs cannot independently maintain complex models
- Retainer contracts just for "audit-ready" maintenance: £5,000–£15,000+/year
- Under 20% of HAs fully understand their own technology stack
Usability & Rigidity¶
"By far the least user friendly. Everything was a process. There were so many steps to every thing." — MRI user review (Software Advice)
"Support has been dreadful! Zero training with actual data." — MRI user review
- Steep learning curve; significant training investment required (£1,020+ per person)
- Interface described as "clunky" and "dated"
- Reports go "out of date quickly" due to inflexibility
- New staff struggle without formal training
The Excel Escape Hatch¶
- Finance directors frequently export data back to 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
- "One-click consolidation" requires clean underlying data structure
Service & Support¶
"Attempts to contact MRI concerning contract issues or any other issue other than technical is not possible. I would never ever allow this company to have access to your bank account as they are unreachable, unresponsive, making customer service non-existent." — Trustpilot review, February 2026
- 1,695+ incidents affecting core functions tracked since 2020
- SaaS dependency with no workaround during downtime
- Implementation described as "laborious"
- Training "done via web sessions that lack specific accounting knowledge"
Cost Concerns¶
- Licence + consultants + training = significant ongoing cost
- 5.5% annual uplift compounds rapidly
- Smaller HAs feel disproportionate burden
- Implementation costs often underestimated
Competitive Landscape¶
Direct Competitors for 30-Year Business Planning¶
| Product | Provider | Focus | Users | Threat Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRI HousingBrixx | MRI Software | 30-year business planning, FFR compliance | 370+ | Incumbent |
| WALS | Ortec Finance (Dutch) | 100-year cash flow, Monte Carlo stress testing, unit-level asset data | Entering UK | Medium — technically interesting but unproven in UK regulatory context |
| ProVal | SDS (Sequel) | Development viability appraisals (30–40yr schemes) | 200+ | Low — different scope (development appraisals only) |
| Bespoke Excel | In-house / consultants | Full business plans in spreadsheets | Widespread | High — the real alternative; most "non-HousingBrixx" HAs use this |
| Consulting firms | KPMG, Deloitte, Savills, Mazars | Build custom models for large HAs | Large HAs | Low — expensive, bespoke, not scalable |
Adjacent Software¶
| Product | Provider | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| iplicit / Xledger | Various | Cloud-native finance (alternative to MRI OpenAccounts) — growing |
| SunSystems | Infor (via LAKE/Wave) | Enterprise financial management, SORP/FRS 102 |
| Aareon QL | Aareon | Full HMS with financial components |
| Lucidity | Lucidity | Corporate planning, strategy-to-operations — niche |
| Housemark | Housemark | Benchmarking data (350+ providers, 3.9M homes) — not modelling |
Enterprise FP&A (Theoretically Applicable but Rarely Used)¶
| Product | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Anaplan | £30K–£100K+/year | Enterprise connected planning — no HA-specific features |
| Workday Adaptive Planning | £25K–£75K+/year | Enterprise FP&A — no HA-specific features |
| Planful | £20K–£60K+/year | Enterprise FP&A — no HA-specific features |
Key Observation
There is no modern, cloud-native SaaS product purpose-built for housing association business planning competing with MRI HousingBrixx. The market is effectively HousingBrixx vs. Excel.
MRI Software Broader Housing Portfolio¶
MRI has built the UK's most comprehensive social housing software suite through aggressive acquisition:
- 850+ social housing clients in UK and Ireland
- Claims 82% of social housing units across UK & Ireland are supported by MRI
- 45+ years of sector experience
Key Acquisitions¶
- Castleton Technology (2020) — HousingBrixx, OpenAccounts, managed services, ActiveH
- Capita One Housing — became MRI Housing One
- Multiple other acquisitions for individual products
Strategic Direction¶
- Transitioning toward MRI Agora platform (AI-enhanced, unified data layer)
- HousingBrixx still supported but "optimisation" narrative suggests eventual absorption
- Positioning for lock-in through broader ecosystem (HMS + Finance + Brixx + Asset Management)
Reviews & Sentiment¶
Independent Review Signals¶
| Source | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot (MRI Software) | Mixed | Explicit complaints about responsiveness, billing, customer service |
| G2 / Capterra (MRI Software) | Limited data | "Least user friendly," "everything was a process" |
| G2 / Capterra (HousingBrixx specific) | No reviews found | Product-specific reviews do not exist on any major platform |
| Vendor testimonials | Positive | Controlled testimonials on MRI website (e.g., Blackpool Housing Company) |
Vendor Testimonial¶
"Using spreadsheets is complex and error-prone, and we had little confidence in presenting the forecasts to the Board. Now, it's a different story – and furthermore, on a hosted platform, MRI's financial modelling software is easy to use with all updates taken care of for us through the service provided." — Paul Whitehead, Head of Finance and Resources, Blackpool Housing Company
Strengths to Match and Weaknesses to Exploit¶
Strengths (Must Match)¶
| Strength | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| 30-year integrated 3-way model | Regulatory requirement; lender expectation |
| ~300 building block objects | Comprehensive coverage of HA financial structures |
| FFR-compliant export | Non-negotiable for regulated providers |
| Covenant monitoring | Lenders require this; treasurers depend on it |
| One-click consolidation | Group structures need this for FFR and board reporting |
| Audit trail | Regulatory and governance requirement |
| Regulator/lender recognition | Institutional trust built over 20+ years |
Weaknesses to Exploit¶
| Weakness | Opportunity |
|---|---|
| Consultant dependency | Self-service UX with guided workflows; reduce need for £1K/day consultants |
| Rigid interface | Modern, intuitive UX; real-time scenario building; live board presentation mode |
| Excel escape hatch | Native ad-hoc analysis; flexible querying; AI-powered "what-if" |
| Integration friction | Open APIs; native integrations with major HMS and finance systems |
| No AI capabilities | AI-powered: scenario narratives, anomaly detection, board paper drafting, benchmarking |
| Service reliability | Cloud-native architecture; redundancy; transparent SLA |
| Opaque pricing | Transparent, predictable SaaS pricing; no consultant markup |
| Acquisition/platform risk | Independent, focused product; clear product roadmap; sector-only mission |
| No peer benchmarking | Anonymised sector benchmarking across client base |
| Slow innovation | Modern tech stack enabling rapid feature delivery |
Switching Dynamics¶
Barriers to switching (current): - No standardised export — requires manual rebuild of financial models - Parallel running for at least one full FFR cycle - Training reinvestment - Board/lender familiarity with HousingBrixx outputs
Factors reducing barriers (2026–27): - SORP 2026 forces model updates regardless - Building Safety Act creates new modelling requirements - 10-year rent settlement triggers business plan refreshes sector-wide - EU Data Act (effective January 2027) will eliminate switching/data egress charges - Cloud adoption accelerating (47% cloud-only in social housing)
This document is part of a four-part research package. See also: Executive Summary · Regulatory Requirements · Build Estimate