Social housing gross sales got here in at simply over 17,500 final 12 months in England, tumbling by round 40% in comparison with the earlier two years, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities knowledge exhibits.
Social home gross sales amounted to 17,504 in 2023/24, in comparison with 24,278 the 12 months earlier than, down 39%, and 24,925 the 12 months earlier than that, down 42%.
The information could also be welcomed by Deputy Prime Minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner, who has beforehand mentioned Proper to Purchase reductions of as much as 70% provided to council tenants could also be reduce.
An eight-week session by the Housing Ministry, which sought views on, “how the Proper to Purchase needs to be reformed,” closed final month.
The paper mentioned: “We need to make sure that council tenants who’ve lived in, and paid lease on, their social houses for a few years can retain the chance to personal their dwelling.
“Nevertheless, reform of Proper to Purchase is important to higher defend much-needed social housing inventory, increase council capability and construct extra social houses than we lose, supporting the federal government’s dedication to ship the largest improve in social and reasonably priced housebuilding in a technology.”
Final 12 months, Proper to Purchase gross sales tumbled by 38% to eight,656 with a lot of the the rest of social housing gross sales coming from a combination of “totally staircased gross sales” and “different gross sales”, in keeping with Ministry of Housing knowledge.
Proper to Purchase reform is a part of the federal government’s wider drive to construct 1.5 million houses over the subsequent 5 years. The nation constructed round a million homes during the last 5 years.
Tenants can at present purchase houses underneath the Proper to Purchase scheme if they’ve lived in social housing for 3 years, at a most low cost of £102,400 throughout England, or £136,400 in London.
The coverage was launched in 1980 by former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as one in every of her flagship reforms.
Since 1980, there have been over 2 million dwelling gross sales underneath the Proper to Purchase scheme, in keeping with Housing Ministry knowledge in March. Nevertheless, councils say they’ve little capability to switch their social housing shares.
The coverage was initially credited with rising charges of dwelling possession, however extra lately has been blamed for contributing to the rise in homelessness.
