Increase in right to buy purchases could hit affordable housing supply

The government has been warned that its pledge to boost the number of affordable homes is at risk because of a surge in right to buy purchases.

In November last year, discounts for tenants who want to buy the council home they live in were reduced, which the government said would “protect existing social housing stock to meet housing need”.

But after it was announced in last October’s Budget, councils saw a dramatic increase in right to buy applications from people seeking to beat the deadline and take advantage of the higher discount.

This has led to concerns that the government’s pledge to deliver “the biggest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation” could be under threat, The i Paper reports.

Surge in sales will lead to supply issues

Housing consultancy HQN has warned that the changes to right to buy will lead to social housing stock being sold off faster than new homes can be built.

“This is a classic one step forward ten steps back policy,” said Alistair McIntosh, chief executive of HQN.

“It will leave a legacy of chaos.”

The Local Government Association added that the discounts would have a positive impact in the “longer term”.

But it warned that the “spike in sales” of “desperately needed homes” would make the “homelessness challenges that councils are working hard to address” even worse.

More than 18,000 council homes to be sold this year

The i Paper has looked at councils’ predicted right to buy sales and estimates that more than 18,500 councils will be sold off in 2025-26.

This, it said, would be 162% higher than in 2023-24 and a bigger number for a single year than at any other time in the last two decades.

It’s also higher than the number of new social and affordable homes (18,000) that the government is aiming to get built by 2029.