Research from London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has found that over the last decade, over 23,000 homes have been sold under the Right to Buy scheme to council tenants and while this may only equate to 5.6% of total local authority owned dwellings stock, it equates to a total market value of £3.4bn.
The analysis of historic Right to Buy data by Benham and Reeves shows that, since 2012-13, 23,061 council homes have been sold to tenants by their respective local councils.
Highest total Right to Buy sales
The highest number of council owned homes have been sold in Barking and Dagenham, where Right to Buy sales total 1,883 over the last decade.
Greenwich has also seen a similar number sold at 1,867, followed by Newham (1,716), Southwark (1,702) and Tower Hamlets (1,187).
Highest proportion of total council homes sold
Across the capital as a whole, the total number of Right to Buy sales accounts for 5.6% of all local authority owned homes.
However, in the City of London, while just 62 homes have sold via Right to Buy, this figure accounts for 14.4% of all council homes located there.
Newham again ranks high, with Right to Buy seeing 10.2% of council owned homes sold, as does Barking and Dagenham (9.8%) and Tower Hamlets (9.5%).
Redbridge also makes the top five, with 9.4% of total council homes in the borough being sold via Right to Buy in the last decade.
Highest Right to Buy sold value
The market value of homes sold via Right to Buy across the London market has hit a huge £3.415bn in the last 10 years.
When it comes to the highest sold value, it’s the London Borough of Southwark that sits top. Right to Buy sales have generated 3254.5m since 2012, with Greenwich (£223.5m), Barking and Dagenham (£222.3m) and Newham (£201.7m) again making the top five.
Islington also ranks as one of the boroughs to see the highest sold value of Right to Buy homes to council tenants, generating £198m since 2012.
Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:
“Right to Buy may have been an incredibly successful initiative when it comes to giving council tenants the ability to climb the ladder and many have seized the opportunity to do so in the last ten years.
Of course, in doing so these local authorities have essentially shot themselves in the foot, as it severely reduces the social housing stock available to them to satisfy the huge demand from those who are still in desperate need of it. The irony is, that it then costs these councils more, as they need to rely on renting from the private sector at a higher price to house those in need.
As a result, we’ve now seen some councils start to reverse this trend and reclaim formerly council owned homes from their owners. Which does beg the question that, having made some quite sizeable sums from selling in the first place, why London’s local authorities haven’t invested appropriately in the provision of new homes for council tenants?”
Location / borough
Total Right to Buy sales – 2012-13 to 2021-22
Local Authority (incl. owned by other LAs) dwelling stock 2012
Est Right to Buy as a proportion of total LA owned stock %
Total market value of Right to Buy receipts
Southwark
1,702
39,781
4.3%
£254,500,497
Greenwich
1,867
22,854
8.2%
£223,591,573
Barking and Dagenham
1,883
19,144
9.8%
£222,257,810
Newham
1,716
16,816
10.2%
£201,738,054
Islington
931
26,256
3.5%
£197,912,471
Tower Hamlets
1,187
12,517
9.5%
£180,473,841
Hackney
872
22,733
3.8%
£159,392,517
Camden
628
23,630
2.7%
£159,083,611
Lambeth
829
24,978
3.3%
£139,538,271
Haringey
1,064
15,911
6.7%
£138,833,024
Croydon
901
14,089
6.4%
£119,844,208
Hounslow
798
13,416
5.9%
£117,407,044
Enfield
1,001
11,317
8.8%
£115,996,675
Hillingdon
816
10,501
7.8%
£114,176,113
Lewisham
777
15,364
5.1%
£105,913,634
Waltham Forest
710
10,125
7.0%
£103,081,012
Havering
900
10,017
9.0%
£97,859,056
Barnet
577
11,043
5.2%
£95,971,526
Wandsworth
538
17,048
3.2%
£93,732,764
Ealing
666
12,861
5.2%
£90,540,815
Hammersmith and Fulham
393
12,948
3.0%
£82,684,255
Westminster
276
12,241
2.3%
£76,797,839
Brent
435
9,040
4.8%
£72,766,652
Sutton
442
6,325
7.0%
£63,931,700
Redbridge
438
4,683
9.4%
£53,453,460
Harrow
258
4,965
5.2%
£46,076,955
Kingston upon Thames
249
4,841
5.1%
£39,912,560
Kensington and Chelsea
145
6,873
2.1%
£35,463,531
City of London
62
430
14.4%
£12,536,844
Bexley
0
13
0.0%
£0
Bromley
0
62
0.0%
£0
Merton
0
0
x
£0
Richmond upon Thames
0
0
x
£0
London
23,061
412,822
5.6%
£3,415,468,309
Right to Buy sales and receipts data sourced from Gov – Live Tables on Social Housing
Wider local authority owned dwellings data sourced from Gov – Live Tables on Dwellings Stock
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About the Author
Established in 1958, Benham and Reeves is one of London’s oldest, independently owned property lettings and sales agents. With specialism in residential sales, corporate lettings and property management in prime areas of London, the company operates from 19 prominently located branches and 11 international offices.