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Right to Buy sales highest since recession in 2016/17

More council homes were sold under the Right to Buy in 2016/17 than any year since the recession, despite a dip in sales in the last quarter.

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Right to Buy sales highest since recession in 2016/17

Figures covering the period January to March of this year were released this morning, revealing 2,890 council homes were sold off at a discount over the period.

This was a 12% drop in sales year on year and a 16% drop on the previous quarter, but still meant 12,826 homes were sold in the year.


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This is up from the 12,246 sold last year and means 54,581 units of social housing have been sold since David Cameron’s government boosted the discounts in 2012.

In the same time period, councils and government agencies have started work on 12,472 replacement properties.

The government is committed to starting a replacement for every additional home sold as a result of the boosted discounts – which sit at £77,900 nationally and £103,900 in London – within three years.

It currently needs 10,933 starts to claim it is meeting this pledge, and is therefore still exceeding it. However it is likely to slip sharply behind in the early quarters of 2017/18.

Earlier this year, former housing minister Gavin Barwell said the Right to Buy is “only politically justifiable” if the replacements pledge is being met.

Today’s statistics show just over £1bn was raised in the year through Right to Buy sales, the first year since discounts were raised when receipts have broken a billion.

However, much of this money is funnelled off to the Treasury or the repayment of council debt, leaving far less to fund replacements. Of the total £3.5bn raised through sales as at December, only £1.5bn had been used to fund replacements.

The Right to Buy allows tenants in council homes, and tenancies which have been transferred to housing associations, to purchase the property at a discount after three years of their tenancy.

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