Right to Buy applications surge to 20-year high as tenants rush for lower discounts

In November 2024, RtB maximum discounts were reduced from £102,400 to a range of £16,000 to £38,000, depending on the location.

There was a 21-day “window” between when the new discounts were confirmed on 30 October and implementation on 21 November 2024, which led to the rush.

According to the statistical release, a previous reduction in RtB discounts in 2002 had caused the same effect, leading to a high peak of 175,121 applications that year.

However, MHCLG said that only around 40% to 50% of RtB applications each year usually translate to sales, and it anticipated that a lower proportion of applications made during the “window” will become sales due to a higher number of speculative applications from tenants.

The data showed that in 2024-2025, there were 9,236 sales of social homes through the RtB scheme, up 7% on the year before. 

The government said that most of these sales will relate to applications made before the policy change, with the “full impact” of the new rules not expected until the 2025-26 reporting period.

This lag is due to the standard timeline for processing RtB sales and the time needed for landlords to process the high volume of applications received ahead of the discount changes coming in.

The data also showed a fall in sales of social housing through the Right to Acquire scheme, which allows eligible housing association tenants to buy their home at a discount, generally ranging from £9,000 to £16,000. This decreased 18% on last year to 629, the lowest since 2016-17. 

In total, there were 19,941 sales of social housing dwellings in England, an increase of 14% compared with 2023-24. Of these 19,941 sales, 7,950 (40%) were of council-owned stock and 11,991 (60%) were of stock owned by private registered providers.

Sales of rental stock to non-sitting tenants, including sales to the open market, accounted for 26% of all social housing sales in 2024-25. 

Meanwhile, shared owners who increased their share – a process known as staircasing – to buy 100% of their properties accounted for 24% of total sales in 2024-25.

In total, more than two million homes have been lost from the public sector since then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher brought in the RtB scheme in April 1980.

The government has estimated that that RtB reforms will reduce sales by around 25,000 over five years, meaning those homes will remain within the social rented sector.

Will Jeffwitz, head of policy at the National Housing Federation, said: “These figures, taken from last year, powerfully illustrate why the action being taken by the government to drive a generational increase in homes for social rent is so important.

“We’re confident that the £39bn new Social and Affordable Homes Programme, alongside long-term certainty on rents and the reforms to Right to Buy, will in time result in a significant increase in much-needed social homes across the country.”

A spokesperson for MHCLG said: “For too long, social homes have been sold off without being replaced – that is why we have already acted to reduce Right to Buy discounts and ensure money from sales is reinvested in new social homes.   

“We are delivering the biggest boost to social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, backed by a record £39bn investment to ensure everyone has access to a safe, secure and affordable home.”