Mortgage News
Right to Buy sales double in five years
Sales of council and housing association homes have doubled in the last five years, according to Communities and Local Government figures, aided by increased state-backed subsidy.
In the year to April 2013, 8,398 council and housing association tenants took up their Right to Buy – more than double the sales seen in the previous year and the highest level since 2007.
In the UK, 2,149 Right to Buy sales went ahead in the first quarter of this year, against 443 in Q1 the year before.
In April 2012, the government expanded the maximum discount to £75,000 across England in April 2012 and increased the London discount to £100,000 a year in April 2013.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The success of Right to Buy shows how the new reinvigorated scheme is opening up the prospect of home ownership to even more people across the country.”
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins (pictured) said: “For years the Right to Buy was allowed to wither on the vine, with ever-decreasing discounts leaving the prospect of home ownership out of reach for far too many social tenants.
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“And because we’ve committed to using the additional money raised towards funding new affordable homes for rent, we’re also getting Britain building and will soon have the fastest rate of affordable house building for two decades.”