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Sales of social housing in Wales drop ahead of Right to Buy ban

Sales of social housing in Wales dropped last year, contradicting predictions of a spike ahead of the Welsh Government’s intended ban on the Right to Buy.

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Sales of social housing in Wales drop ahead of Right to Buy ban

Total sales fell 9% in 2016/17, from 638 the previous year to 583 in the first annual decrease since 2009/10, according to official statistics released today.

Among local authority homes the drop was especially marked, with sales plummeting 21% from 191 to 151. The Right to Buy and the Right to Acquire accounted for 93% of these transactions.


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The Welsh Government introduced a bill to abolish the Right to Buy and associated rights in March, with civil servants conceding at the time that a spike in sales was likely during the 12-month period between it gaining Royal Assent and coming into effect.

And Carl Sargeant, cabinet secretary for communities and children at the Welsh Government, has previously said he did not know how to prevent a surge in sales ahead of the ban kicking in, but was trying to find a “long-term solution” to losses in social housing stock.

However, five local authorities in Wales had already suspended the Right to Buy under the Housing (Wales) Measure 2011, and the maximum discount available to tenants hoping to buy their homes was halved from £16,000 to £8,000 in July 2015.

The report accompanying the statistics notes that the proposed ban and the reduced discount “may have changed tenants’ behaviour during both 2015/16 and 2016/17, which may have impacted on the number applying to make use of these schemes”.

The decrease is a stark contrast to the picture in England, where Right to Buy sales were at their highest since the recession in 2016/17.

Matt Dicks, director of the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru, said that if passed the Right to Buy ban "will provide an additional support in bolstering the supply of social housing".

He added: "It is encouraging that a growing proportion of these sales are happening through people accessing the range of low-cost home ownership schemes."

Shared equity schemes accounted for 10% of sales in 2016/17, while 7% of purchases were through the low-cost home ownership scheme.

Update: at 4.29pm, 13.07.17 The story was updated to include a quote from Matt Dicks.

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