Official Statistics

Right to Buy sales and replacements, England: April 2023 to March 2024

Updated 23 August 2024

Applies to England

This release reports on the sales of council owned dwellings which are subject to the Right to Buy pooling of receipts provision. While a large proportion of these sales are Right to Buy, some are shared ownership sales and other eligible sales. Prior to the 2021-22 annual release, it was not possible to separate these types of sales, and these total sales will be referred to as “eligible sales” throughout this release.

The quarterly figures presented in earlier releases also refer to “eligible sales”. The latest statistics on all Right to Buy sales was published in the 2022-23 Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistical release. The latest figures for sales of social housing are reflected in Table 678.

In 2023-24, 9 housing stock-owning authorities, including some with large numbers of housing stock, did not provide data in time for this publication. These Local Authorities were Birmingham, Tower Hamlets, Ealing, Wiltshire, Guildford, Babergh, Brentwood, Oldham and Hartlepool. This is a higher non-response rate than usual for these annual statistics.

In 2022-23, these authorities held 6.5% of all Local Authority housing stock in England.

Where possible we have added footnotes with weighted estimates of how this is likely to affect England-wide totals as a result, but the main body of the report will focus on the actual values reported to the department.

1. Key statistics

 2,026,893 

Since the start of the Right to Buy scheme in 1980, until 31 March 2024, there have been over 2,026,893 sales to tenants through the Right to Buy scheme. ^{[footnote 1]}

 6,275 

In 2023-24, Local Authorities reported 6,275 eligible sales, a decrease of 43% compared to 2022-23.^{[footnote 2]}

£618 million

From these 6,275 sales, Local Authorities received £618 million.^{[footnote 3]}

£98,454

The average receipt per dwelling was £98,454, a decrease of 5% compared to 2022-23.

3,046

3,046 replacements were funded in 2023-24 through receipts from eligible sales, a decrease of 16% compared with 2022-23. Of these, Local Authorities started or acquired 3,037 properties and Homes England or the Greater London Authority started or acquired 9 properties.^{[footnote 4][footnote 5]}

2. Comparison of eligible sales to total Right to Buy sales

This statistical release, and the accompanying tables, reports data submitted by Local Authorities to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) reporting:

• the number of eligible sales of social houses to Local Authority tenants

• the receipts collected through these sales

• the number of properties started, completed and acquired funded through these receipts

The data submitted by Local Authorities forms part of the Pooling of Capital Receipts return which is used to calculate the amount of money which Local Authorities must pay to central government from the proceeds of eligible sales. The data collected for this release is financial information based on rules regarding the pooling of receipts which were created following the reinvigoration of the Right to Buy scheme in April 2012. This means that the sales reported in these statistics are mainly Right to Buy sales, but also include a small number of shared ownership sales and other discounted sales to secure tenants. Right to Buy sales of properties built after July 2008 are excluded from these statistics as they are excluded from the provisions in the pooling regulations relating to Right to Buy sales.

As the statistics in the scope of this release do not include all Right to Buy sales and also include a small number of other sales, this statistical release should be seen as the leading indicator of Right to Buy sales. The definitive statistics on the overall number of Right to Buy sales is the Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistics which will be released in December 2024/January 2025.

At a national level, eligible sales can be used to approximate Local Authority Right to Buy sales, particularly for describing trends. However, when quoting exact figures for individual Local Authorities, the correct source of this information is the Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistics.

3. Eligible sales

3.1 Eligible sales by type

Of the 6,275 reported eligible sales in 2022-23,^{[footnote 2]} 6,243 were Right to Buy, 29 were shared ownership and 0 were classed as other eligible sales. There is no sale type information on the remaining sales. This shows that while Right to Buy sales do not make up 100% of all eligible sales, they account for over 99% where the type of sale is known, therefore changes to the Right to Buy scheme have an obvious and direct impact to the number of eligible sales. 2021-22 was the first year that information on the type of eligible sales was collected.

3.2 Eligible sales in 2023-24

In 2023-24, there were 6,275 reported eligible sales of Local Authority properties to tenants. However, 9 housing stock-owning authorities, including some with large numbers of housing stock, had not submitted their pooling returns in time for this publication. Over the previous 5 years, sales reported by those Local Authorities varied between 7% and 8% of the total across all LAs for the year. We therefore estimate that if these Local Authorities had provided data the total number of sales in England in 2023-24 would be in the range of 6,750 to 6,820.

The 6,275 reported eligible sales were a decrease of 43% compared to 2022-23. The graph below shows how the number of eligible sales has changed since 2006-07 in England.

Figure 1: Annual eligible sales from 2006-07 to 2023-24, England

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Eligible sales decreased between the years ending March 2007 and March 2009, following the introduction of caps on discounts in 2005. Sales began to rise again after reinvigoration in April 2012 (when discounts to tenants increased) and continued to do so when in March 2013 there were further increases to the discounts in London.

From the year ending March 2017, there was a downward trend in the number of eligible sales. There was a particularly sharp decline in 2020-21 due to the restrictions introduced as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when there were 6,861 sales, a decrease of 35% compared to 2019-20. Sales reported in 2023-24 fell sharply (decrease of 43%) compared with 2022-23, ^{[footnote 2]} and are 53% below the peak in 2016-17. Sales are still well above the levels in 2011-12 (the last year before the reinvigoration of Right to Buy).

3.3 Eligible sales by region

Eligible sales were concentrated across a small group of Local Authorities. In 2023-24, approximately 50% of the total number of sales were made by 19 Local Authorities, all of which were urban centres, including some East London boroughs. This distribution has been similar in previous years.

Across the regions of England there is a large variation in the number of Local Authority properties bought through Right to Buy. This variation is due to a series of differences across the regions:

• amount of Local Authority social housing stock: in some regions there is a much larger proportion of social housing which is owned by private registered providers compared to Local Authorities, reducing the number of possible sales compared to other regions

• maximum Right to Buy discounts: Right to Buy sales in London have a higher maximum discount (£127,900 in 2023-24) compared to the other English regions (£96,000 in 2023-24)

• house prices: there is a large variation in house prices across the regions of England which means that Right to Buy is more affordable in some areas than others

As can be seen from the graph below, in 2023-24 the most eligible sales were seen in Yorkshire and the Humber, London, and the Midlands. These regions have also had the most eligible sales since 2012, with sales in London showing a significant spike after 2013-14 following increases to the discounts available in London in April 2013.

Figure 2: Annual eligible sales by Region in England, 2012-13 to 2023-24

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On 31 March 2023 there were 1,563,000 Local Authority owned social homes held within a Housing Revenue Account ^{[footnote 6]}, which were unevenly distributed across the regions of England. As the number of Local Authority owned social homes has a direct impact on the number of Right to Buy sales, the graph below reports the number of sales per 1,000 Local Authority stock at the end of the previous year.

Figure 3: Annual eligible sales per 1,000 Local Authority stock held in a housing revenue account by region in England, 2012-13 to 2023-24

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This graph shows that the number of eligible sales per 1,000 stock was highest in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East, and the East Midlands. The graph above shows that the number of sales in London per 1,000 stock have declined since a peak in 2014-15 to be, on average, among the lowest per 1,000 stock owned in all regions since 2017-18.

4. Eligible sales receipts

In 2023-24, Local Authorities received £618 million through reported eligible sales However, 9 housing stock-owning authorities, including some with large levels of housing stock, had not submitted their pooling returns in time for this publication. Over the previous 5 years, receipts reported by those Local Authorities varied between 7% and 8% of the total across all LAs for the year. We therefore estimate that if these Local Authorities had provided data the total value of receipts in England in 2023-24 would be in the range of £665 to £672 million.

The reported value of £618 million is a decrease of 46% compared to 2022-23. The average receipt in 2023-24 was £98,454, a decrease of 5% compared to the peak in 2022-23.

The dark blue line on the graph below shows the total value of receipts received in England through eligible sales since 2012-13, with the turquoise line showing the average receipt against the right-hand side y-axis.

Figure 4: Total value of receipts and average receipts received through eligible sales, England 2012-13 to 2023-24

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As can be seen from the figure above, the average receipt from eligible sales in England has gone up from £61,804 in 2012-13 to £98,454 in 2023-24, an increase of 59% whereas the House Price Index for England^{[footnote 7]} over the same period increased by 67%, meaning that average receipts from Right to Buy sales have increased by a lower proportion than the wider housing market in England.

The receipts received by Local Authorities are dependent on the location of properties sold, the types of properties sold, the number of years that tenants have been living at the property and the change in house prices over the course of the year. For these reasons it is difficult to identify a single factor as to why average receipts in different regions change over a time period.

The graph below shows the average receipt in each region since 2012-13 and the figure in blue represents the percentage change from 2022-23 to 2023-24. In all regions except London, the South West and Yorkshire and the Humber, the average receipt increased from 2022-23 to 2023-24, with the largest increase observed in the North West. The largest decrease was observed in the South West.

Figure 5: Average receipt received through eligible sales, by region in England 2012-13 to 2023-24

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The receipts gained from the eligible sales of social housing properties must be spent by Local Authorities within 5 years ^{[footnote 8]} on the replacement of properties which have been sold either through building new homes or acquiring existing properties. If the receipts are not spent in this time period, then they are returned to the department to be spent by Homes England or the Greater London Authority on providing new homes, either by new build or acquisition of existing stock (including new build in open market). There is more information on the replacement of eligible sales in the Background to the Right to Buy scheme section.

In March 2023, it was announced that councils would be able to retain 100% of the receipts from Right to Buy sales in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Although this applies to receipts from 2022-23, this is not expected to have had a large impact yet, as it is unlikely Local Authorities would have spent much of these extra receipts.

5. Replacements using Right to Buy receipts

5.1 Starts and acquisitions

Since the reinvigoration of Right to Buy in April 2012, MHCLG has collected data on the number of properties which have been started or acquired using the receipts of Right to Buy sales. Both starts on site for new builds, as well as acquisitions of properties from the market, count towards a Local Authority’s total for Right to Buy replacements.

In 2023-24, there were 3,046 properties started or acquired using Right to Buy receipts, a decrease of 16% compared to 2022-23.^{[footnote 5]} However, 9 housing stock-owning authorities, including some with large levels of housing stock, had not submitted their pooling returns in time for this publication. Due to large fluctuations in the proportions of the total replacements delivered by specific Local Authorities from one year to the next, it is not possible to give a meaningful estimate for the numbers of replacements that are missing from these Local Authorities.

Data on the split between starts and acquisitions was first collected in 2017-18 and since then the split has varied, with starts accounting for between 51% and 66% of all replacements each year. In 2023-24, 54% of all replacements were starts on site.

In 2022-23, a 50% cap was introduced on the use of Right to Buy receipts for acquisitions to help encourage new housing supply, and in March 2023 it was announced that this cap has been frozen at 50% until 2025. This cap does not apply to the first 20 units acquired. This means that in Local Authorities where there have been more than 20 replacements funded using Right to Buy receipts in the financial year, the number of acquisitions to which the cap applies ^{[footnote 9]} cannot exceed half of their total replacement number plus ten.

The graph below shows the number of replacements delivered by Local Authorities, Homes England and the GLA using Right to Buy receipts since 2012. It shows that the number of starts and acquisitions continued to increase from 2012-13 to reach a peak in 2020-21. In 2023-24 the number of reported replacements fell by 16% compared with the figure in 2022-23.^{[footnote 4]} From 2023-24, Homes England is not currently separately recording new starts funded with Right to Buy receipts. Therefore this number will be an undercount of the total number of replacements. In the previous five years, the average number of replacements funded via Homes England was 296. Replacements funded via the Greater London Authority are included. The majority of replacements have been delivered by Local Authorities themselves, accounting for 43,972 (92%) of the 47,864 total replacements.

Figure 6: Total replacements started and acquired by Local Authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, 2012-13 to 2023-24

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There are several factors that may have had an impact on the number of starts since 2022-23 including difficulties sourcing raw materials, rising build costs and high inflation. Additionally, in April 2021, the time limit for Local Authorities to spend new and existing Right to Buy receipts was extended from 3 years to 5 years. This may have led to Local Authorities choosing to spread out the spending of the same money across a longer period of time, leading to a reduction in the number of replacements in the short term.

The number of replacements is calculated from the sum of starts and acquisitions. This is measured against the one-for-one replacement target, in which every additional Right to Buy sale since the reinvigoration in 2012, above a 2010-based baseline, must be replaced by a new affordable home nationally within 3 years.

The baseline predicted that without the reinvigoration there would be 33,660 Right to Buy sales between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2021. The actual number of sales was 96,145. This means that the replacement target was 62,485. During the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2024 there were 47,864 actual replacements, which means there were 14,621 fewer replacements than the replacement target.

The graph below shows the cumulative number of replacements delivered by Local Authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority by year against the replacement target in each year.^{[footnote 5]} This target hasn’t been met since 2017-18, and the gap between actual replacements and the target grew every year until 2022-23, decreasing slightly for 2023-24.

Figure 7: Cumulative replacements started and acquired versus the one-for-one replacement target, 2012-13 to 2023-24

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5.2 Replacements by region

The delivery of replacements was concentrated across a small group of Local Authorities. In 2023-24, approximately 50% of the total number of replacements were delivered by 13 Local Authorities. This distribution has been similar in previous years.

Falls in replacements in 2023-24 occurred across the East of England, London, the North West and West Midlands, with comparatively modest increases in East Midlands, the South East, and the remainder of regions remaining broadly similar with 2022-23.

Historically, as with eligible sales, the number of replacements has a large regional variation across England. Most of the replacements have been in London, the South East and the East of England, with comparatively fewer in the North East and North West.

The figure below shows the total number of replacements delivered by Local Authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority across the 9 English regions.

Figure 8: Total replacements delivered by Local Authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, by English region, 2012-13 to 2023-24

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5.3 Completions

Following changes to the data collection from 2021-22, statistics on the number of properties funded through Right to Buy receipts which have been completed and that count towards the one-for-one replacement target are presented in this release. Between 2012-13 and 2020-21, these data were collected in the Local Authority Housing Statistics. Due to the different collections, comparison of the figures from 2021-22 onwards with the figures from 2020-21 and earlier should be done with care, as some variations may be due to differences in the data collection and methodology and may not reflect actual changes.

In 2023-24 there were 1,934 reported completions of new-build replacement properties, of which 1,739 were completed by Local Authorities. However, 9 housing stock-owning authorities, including some with large levels of housing stock, had not submitted their pooling returns in time for this publication. Due to large fluctuations in the proportions of the total new-build completions delivered by specific Local Authorities from one year to the next, it is not possible to give a meaningful estimate for the numbers of new-build completions that are missing from these Local Authorities.

The remaining 195 new-build completions were delivered by Homes England and the Greater London Authority. Of these, 98 were completed by Homes England, and 97 by the Greater London Authority.

In 2022-23, Local Authorities completed 2,609 properties, with Homes England completing 553 and the Greater London Authority completing 73.

The graph below shows the total number of new-build completions reported by Local Authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority since 2012-13.

Figure 9: Total new-build replacements completed by Local Authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, 2012-13 to 2023-24

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Between 2016-17 and 2022-23, completions increased year-on-year except for in 2019-20 and 2020‑21. The lower completions figures for these two years are likely a direct result of the impact of the restrictions introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The graph below shows the comparison between starts and completions of new build properties by Local Authorities. Before 2017-18 there is no data available on starts, but a combined figure for starts and acquisitions (replacements) is available. The “Estimated Starts” figures for before 2017-18 in the graph below are calculated by taking the proportion of replacements which were starts between 2017-18 and 2023-24 and applying this to total replacements figures from 2012-13 to 2016-17 to estimate the number of starts.

Figure 10: Comparison between starts and completions of new build properties by Local Authorities, 2012-13 to 2023-24

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Numbers of completions follow a similar trend, although with a lower absolute value, to those of starts but with an up to two-year delay. This is expected because it takes approximately 2 years for a property to move from a start to a completion.

The decrease in completions in 2019-20 and 2020-21 may be due to the restrictions introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the increase in completions in 2021-22 may be a result of a catch up of new builds not completing until restrictions eased. The decrease in completions since 2022-23 is expected due to the decrease in starts from 2019-20 to 2023-24.

5.4 Types of replacement

Data has recently been collected on the types of replacement that Local Authorities have delivered. For these breakdowns, replacements are defined as acquisitions plus completions, different to the definition of acquisitions plus starts which is used to measure 1-4-1 replacement following Right to Buy sales.

Tenure

From 2021-22, data has been collected on the tenure of replacement dwellings (acquisitions and completions) delivered by Local Authorities. Data is also collected by Homes England and the Greater London Authority on the tenures of completed and acquired properties funded by the recycling of Right to Buy receipts. In order to match between data sources, homes delivered by the Greater London Authority as London Affordable Rent have been combined in the Affordable Rent figures.

In 2023-24, 36% (1,210) of replacement properties were for Social Rent, 57% (1,917) were for Affordable Rent, and 7% (218) were for Shared Ownership. This compares to 2022-23 figures of 36% (1,615) for Social Rent, 59% (2,641) for Affordable Rent, and 5% (202) for Shared Ownership. The graph below shows the number of replacement properties for each tenure by year since 2021-22. To date, no First Homes replacements have been recorded using recycled Right to Buy receipts.

Figure 11: Right to Buy replacements (new-build completions and acquisitions) by tenure, 2021-22 to 2023-24

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The pooling return on which these statistics are based does not itself collect data on the tenure of the properties sold. However, Local Authority Housing Statistics data shows that Local Authority housing stock is primarily social rent (98%),^{[footnote 10]} 95% of all sales of Local Authority rental stock are of social rent dwellings,^{[footnote 11]} and 99% of all sales of Local Authority rental stock are Right to Buy sales.^{[footnote 12]} It can therefore be inferred that the majority of eligible sales are of social rent dwellings.

Bedrooms

The Local Authority Housing Statistics collects data on the number of bedrooms of properties sold through Right to Buy and, from 2012-13 to 2020-21, also on the number of bedrooms of the replacement properties (acquisitions and completions). The information on replacement properties was moved to the Capital Receipts of Pooling Return in 2021-22. Replacements by numbers of bedrooms are not available from Homes England or the Greater London Authority, so the following statistics only apply to replacements delivered by Local Authorities.

On average, homes sold through Right to Buy are being replaced by homes with fewer bedrooms. Between 2012-13 and 2022-23,^{[footnote 13]} 14% of Right to Buy sales were 1-bedroom properties, 33% had 2 bedrooms and 53% had 3 or more bedrooms. For acquisitions and completions between 2012-13 and 2023-24; 25% of these were 1-bedroom properties, 43% had 2 bedrooms and 32% had 3 or more bedrooms

The graph below shows the comparison between sales, from 2012-13 to 2022-23, and completions and acquisitions (replacements), from 2012-13 to 2023-24, by number of bedrooms by region of England.

Figure 12: Comparison between Right to Buy sales, from 2012-13 to 2022-23, and replacement completions and acquisitions, from 2012-13 to 2023-24, by number of bedrooms by English region

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The figure above shows that there was a higher proportion of 1- and 2-bedroom homes acquired or completed compared to those sold in all regions except for London and the North West.

6. Background to the Right to Buy scheme

The Right to Buy scheme was introduced in 1980 and gives qualifying social tenants the opportunity to buy their rented home at a discount. The scheme is open to secure tenants of Local Authorities and non-charitable PRPs, and to those assured tenants of PRPs who transferred with their homes from a Local Authority as part of a stock transfer. To qualify for the Right to Buy scheme, a social tenant must have accrued at least three years public sector tenancy. This does not need to be continuous, nor does it need to have been accrued whilst living in the tenant’s current property.

In 1998 and 2003, Discount Orders reduced Right to Buy discounts across England to maximums ranging from £16,000 to £38,000 (depending on the Local Authority where the property was located). Prior to that, the discount cap had been £50,000 across England.

In April 2012, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) reinvigorated the Right to Buy scheme by changing the maximum cash discount available for Right to Buy sales to a new higher level of £75,000 across England. In March 2013, in recognition of the increasing property prices in London, the Government further increased the maximum discount available for tenants living in London boroughs to £100,000. In July 2014, DCLG changed the maximum cash discount available for the Right to Buy so that it changes annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation. The maximum discount in 2023-24 was £127,900 in London and £96,000 in the rest of England.

Following the reinvigoration of the Right to Buy scheme, Local Authorities can keep the receipts from additional sales (sales which are above a baseline taken from before the reinvigoration in 2010-11). In 2012 a new target was introduced that, nationally, every additional property sold through Right to Buy would be replaced by a new affordable home for rent under the one-for-one replacement policy. Between 2011-12 and 2020-21, Local Authorities were given 3 years to spend these receipts to fund up to 30% of each replacement home. If they chose not to/were not able to do so, the receipts were returned to the Department to fund replacements through Homes England or the Greater London Authority.

On 20 March 2021, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published its response to a consultation on the use of Right to Buy (RTB) receipts which outlined some changes to how Local Authorities could spend the money they received from Right to Buy sales. These changes gave Local Authorities increased flexibility on how they could spend their receipts to help authorities build more homes.

In summary, the changes included:

• extending the time Local Authorities had to spend new and existing Right to Buy receipts from 3 years to 5 years. This was intended to make it easier for Local Authorities to undertake longer-term planning, including remediation of larger plots of land

• increasing the percentage cost of a new home that Local Authorities could fund using Right to Buy receipts from 30% to 40%. This aimed to make it easier for authorities to fund replacement homes using Right to Buy receipts, as well as to build homes for social rent

• introducing a cap on the use of Right to Buy receipts for acquisitions to help drive new supply with effect from 1 April 2022, and phased in over 2022-23 to 2024-25

• allowing receipts to be used for shared ownership and First Homes, as well as housing at affordable and social rent, to help Local Authorities build the types of home most needed in their communities.

These changes took effect from 1 April 2021, except for the acquisition cap, which was introduced from 1 April 2022, on a phased basis.

In March 2023, it was announced that councils would be able to retain 100% of the receipts from Right to Buy sales in 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help deliver more replacement homes. The acquisition cap was also frozen at 50% until 2025, at which point it would drop to 40% for 2025-26, and then 30% from 2026-27.

7. Definitions

• Right to Buy: The sale of a Local Authority-owned property to a secure tenant of more than 3 years at a discounted price.

• Preserved Right to Buy: A scheme which allows tenants of properties which were initially owned by a Local Authority, but then transferred to a Private Registered Provider (PRP), to maintain their statutory Right to Buy.

• Voluntary Right to Buy: A pilot scheme in the Midlands which ran from 2018 to 2021 which gave an option for PRPs to sell properties to tenants on a voluntary basis, at the same discounts at statutory Right to Buy.

• Additional receipts: Receipts generated by additional sales resulting from the 2012 Right to Buy discount increases (against a baseline of sales forecast before the increases) that can be retained by Local Authorities to fund replacement homes

• Pooling: The process of managing Right to Buy receipts nationally, and specifically the process of calculating and collecting the amount of these receipts that should be returned to MHCLG

8.  Live tables

See the data tables which accompany this release.

• Live Table 691 Annual: Right to Buy sales, by Local Authority

• Live Table 692 Annual: Right to Buy receipts, by Local Authority

• Live Table 693 Annual: Replacements of Right to Buy sales, by Local Authority

• Right to Buy sales open data

• Right to Buy replacement open data

9. Technical notes

Please see the accompanying technical notes document for further details.

10. Enquiries

Media enquiries:

Office hours: 0303 444 1209

Email: [email protected]

Public enquiries:

Email: [email protected]

Information on Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

Information about statistics at MHCLG is available via the Department’s website.

1. This figure includes all Right to Buy sales, including voluntary and preserved Right to Buy sales to Private Registered Provider tenants, Local Authority Right to Buy sales up to March 2023, plus all eligible sales from April 2023 to March 2024 which were Right to Buy. Non-eligible Local Authority Right to Buy sales, eligible sales that are not Right to Buy sales, and Private Registered Provider Right to Buy sales for the financial year 2023-24 are not included in this figure. Non-eligible Local Authority Right to Buy sales, eligible sales that are not Right to Buy sales, and Private Registered Provider Right to Buy sales for the financial year 2023-24 are not included in this figure. ↩

2. In 2023-24, 9 housing stock-owning authorities, including some with large numbers of housing stock, had not submitted their pooling returns in time for this publication. Over the previous 5 years, sales reported by those Local Authorities varied between 7% and 8% of the total across all LAs for the year. We therefore estimate that if these Local Authorities had provided data the total number of sales in England in 2023-24 would be in the range of 6,750 to 6,820. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. In 2023-24, 9 housing stock-owning authorities, including some with large levels of housing stock, had not submitted their pooling returns in time for this publication. Over the previous 5 years, receipts reported by those Local Authorities varied between 7% and 8% of the total across all LAs for the year. We therefore estimate that if these Local Authorities had provided data the total value of receipts in England in 2023-24 would be in the range of £665 to £672 million. ↩

4. In 2023-24, 9 housing stock-owning authorities, including some with large levels of stock, had not submitted their pooling returns in time for this publication. Due to large fluctuations in the proportions of the total replacements delivered by specific Local Authorities from one year to the next, it is not possible to give a meaningful estimate for the numbers of replacements that are missing from these Local Authorities. ↩ ↩²

5. From 2023-24, Homes England is not currently separately recording new starts funded with Right to Buy receipts. Therefore this number will be an undercount of the total number of replacements. In the previous five years, the average number of replacements funded via Homes England was 296. Replacements funded via the Greater London Authority are included. ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Data from Local Authority Housing Statistics. ↩

7. Data from Land Registry UK House Price Index ↩

8. In April 2021, this increased from 3 years to 5 years. ↩

9. Some types of acquisitions which still result in the authority contributing to net supply are exempt from the cap. Acquisitions of new build from a Local Authority’s own housing company or arms length management organisation (ALMO) or from regeneration projects that contribute to net supply are exempt. Acquisitions of new build from a private developer are not exempt. ↩

10. Local Authority Housing Statistics, stock at 31 March 2023. The proportion of stock that is social rent is calculated by dividing the number of Social Rent dwellings owned by Local Authorities with a housing revenue account (a2iaa) by the total number of dwellings owned by those Local Authorities (a2ia). ↩

11. Local Authority Housing Statistics, sales during 2022-23. The proportion of sales that are of social rent dwelling is calculated by dividing the number of sales of social rent properties (k1fa) by the total sales of rental stock (k1ff). ↩

12. Calculated from Live Table 678 using Local Authority Right to Buy sales, divided by the sum of Local Authority Right to Buy sales, other sales to sitting tenants by Local Authorities, and other sales by Local Authorities. ↩

13. Data for 2023-24 will be available alongside the publication of the 2023-24 Social Housing sales and demolitions statistical release in December 2024/January 2025. ↩