Official Statistics

Right to Buy sales and replacements, England: April 2022 to March 2023

Published 10 August 2023

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 2021-22 Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistical release. The latest figures for sales of social housing are reflected in Table 678.

1. Key statistics

 2,017,590 

Since the start of the Right to Buy scheme in 1980, until 31 March 2023, there have been over 2,017,590 sales to tenants through the Right to Buy scheme. ^{[footnote 1]}

 10,896 

In 2022-23, local authorities reported 10,896 eligible sales, similar to last year.

£1,108 million

From these 10,896 sales, local authorities received £1,108 million.

£101,713

The average receipt per dwelling was £101,713, an increase of 3% compared to 2021-22.

3,447

3,447 replacements were funded in 2022-23 through receipts from eligible sales, a decrease of 33% compared with 2021-22. Of these, local authorities started or acquired 3,200 properties and Homes England or the Greater London Authority started or acquired 247 properties.

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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) 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 2023/January 2024.

At a national level, eligible sales can be used interchangeably with 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 10,896 eligible sales in 2022-23, 10,810 were Right to Buy, 20 were shared ownership and 1 was 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 2022-23

In 2022-23, there were 10,896 eligible sales of local authority properties to tenants. The 10,896 total sales were similar to 2021-22 (decrease of 1%) and an increase of 59% compared to 2020-21 ^{[footnote 2]}. 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 2022-23, 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 6,865 sales, a decrease of 35% compared to 2019-20. Sales reported in 2022-23 remained relatively similar to 2021-22, suggesting the possibility that the large increase reported in 2021-22 was not solely due to a catch-up of sales missed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21. The sales in 2022-23 were an increase of 313% compared to 2011-12 (the last year before the reinvigoration of Right to Buy) but are still 19% below the peak in 2016-17.

3.3 Eligible sales by region

Eligible sales were concentrated across a small group of local authorities. In 2022-23, approximately 50% of the total number of sales were made by 21 local authorities. 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 (£116,200 in 2022-23) compared to the other English regions (£87,200 in 2022-23)

• 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 2022-23 the most eligible sales were seen in London, Yorkshire and the Humber, 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 2022-23

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On 31 March 2022 there were 1,568,670 local authority owned social homes held within a Housing Revenue Account ^{[footnote 3]}, 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 by region in England, 2012-13 to 2022-23

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This graph shows that the number of eligible sales per 1,000 stock was highest in the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber and the 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 2022-23, local authorities received £1,108 million through eligible sales. This is an increase of 2% compared to 2021-22 and an increase of 73% compared to 2020-21. The average receipt in 2022-23 was £101,713. The total receipts received in 2022-23 were the highest since 2016-17.

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 2022-23

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As can be seen from the figure above, the average receipt from eligible sales in England has gone up from £61,830 in 2012-13 to £101,713 in 2022-23, an increase of 65%.

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 2021-22 to 2022-23. In all regions except the East of England, the average receipt increased from 2021-22 to 2022-23, with the largest increase observed in the South West.

Figure 5: Average receipt received through eligible sales, by region in England 2012-13 to 2022-23

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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 4]} 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 HM Treasury 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 will be able to retain 100% of the receipts from Right to Buy sales in 2022-23 and 2023-24. However, although this applies to receipts from 2022-23, this is not expected to have any impact in the 2022-23 data as it was announced at the end of the financial year.

5. Replacements using Right to Buy receipts

5.1 Starts and acquisitions

Since the reinvigoration of Right to Buy in April 2012, DLUHC 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 2022-23, there were 3,447 properties started or acquired using Right to Buy receipts, a decrease of 33% compared to 2021-22 and a decrease of 46% compared to 2020-21. 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 63% of all replacements each year.

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 5]} 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 2021-22, the number of replacements fell by 20% compared with the peak in 2020-21, and in 2022-23 the number of replacements fell by 46% compared with the peak in 2020-21. The majority of replacements have been delivered by local authorities themselves, accounting for 40,878 (91%) of the 44,690 total replacements.

Figure 6: Total replacements started and acquired by local authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, 2012-13 to 2022-23

Total replacements started and acquired by Local Authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, 2012-13 to 2022-23

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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 benchmark, must be replaced by a new affordable home nationally within 3 years.

The benchmark predicted that without the reinvigoration there would be 29,629 Right to Buy sales between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2020. The actual number of sales was 89,293. This means that the replacement target was 59,664. During the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2023 there were 44,690 actual replacements, which means there were 14,974 fewer replacements than the 3-year target.

There are several factors that may have had an impact on the number of starts in 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.

5.2 Replacements by region

The delivery of replacements was concentrated across a small group of local authorities. In 2022-23, approximately 50% of the total number of replacements were delivered by 14 local authorities. This distribution has been similar in previous years.

The fall in replacements in 2022-23 occurred across all regions, with proportionally greater decreases in London, the South East and the West Midlands.

Historically, as with eligible sales, the number of replacements has a large regional variation across England. Most of the replacements have been in London 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 7: Total replacements delivered by local authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, by English region, 2012-13 to 2022-23

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5.3 Completions

Following changes to the data collection for 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 available in this release. Between 2012-13 and 2020-21, these data were collected in the Local Authority Housing Statistics. Due to the different collections, the comparison of the 2021-22 figures 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 2022-23 there were 3,398 completions of new-build replacement properties, of which 2,772 were completed by local authorities and 626 were completed by Homes England and the Greater London Authority. Of these, 553 were completed by Homes England, and 73 by the Greater London Authority. In 2021-22, local authorities completed a similar 2,799 properties, with Homes England completing 333 and the Greater London Authority completing 19.

The graph below shows the total number of completions reported by local authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority since 2012-13.

Figure 8: Total new-build replacements completed by local authorities, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, 2012-13 to 2022-23

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The total number of completions has increased year-on-year for all years except 2019-20 and 2020-21. The decrease in these two years is 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” figure for pre-2017-18 in the graph below is calculated by taking the ratio of replacements which were starts between 2017-18 and 2021-22 and applying this to total replacements figures from 2012-13 to 2016-17 to estimate the number of starts.

Figure 9: Comparison between starts and completions of new build properties by local authorities, 2012-13 to 2022-23

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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 in 2022-23 is expected due to the decrease in starts from 2019-20 to 2022-23.

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. Furthermore, these breakdowns do not include delivery by either Homes England or the Greater London Authority.

Tenure

From 2021-22, data has been collected on the tenure of replacement dwellings (acquisitions and completions). In 2021-22, 29% of replacement properties were for social rent, with 64% for affordable rent, 7% for shared ownership and less than 1% for First Homes. In 2022-23, these numbers were 38% for social rent, 57% for affordable rent and 5% for shared ownership. There were no new First Homes funded by Right to Buy receipts in 2022-23.

Data on the tenure of dwellings sold through eligible sales is not yet available. However, since local authority stock is primarily social rent (98%) ^{[footnote 6]}, it can be expected that most 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, it also collected data 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 and will remain in this data collection.

On average, homes sold through Right to Buy are generally being replaced by homes with fewer bedrooms. Between 2012-13 and 2021-22, 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 2022-23; 31% of completions were 1-bedroom properties, 46% had 2 bedrooms and 23% had 3 or more bedrooms. 19% of acquisitions were 1-bedroom properties, 39% had 2 bedrooms and 42% had 3 or more bedrooms.

The graph below shows the comparison between sales, from 2012-13 to 2021-22, and completions and acquisitions (replacement), from 2012-13 to 2022-23, by number of bedrooms by region of England. These figures only include properties delivered by Local Authorities and do not include any delivery by Homes England or the Greater London Authority.

Figure 10: Comparison between Right to Buy sales, from 2012-13 to 2021-22, and replacement completions and acquisitions, from 2012-13 to 2022-23, 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.

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 have 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 2022-23 was £116,200 in London and £87,200 in the rest of England.

As part of 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). The government’s target is that, nationally, every additional property sold through Right to Buy will 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, before the receipts were handed to the treasury to fund replacements through Homes England or the Greater London Authority.

On 20 March 2021, the Ministry for 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 can spend the money they receive from Right to Buy sales. These changes give local authorities increased flexibility on how they can spend their receipts to help authorities build more homes.

In summary, the changes included:

• extending the time local authorities have to spend new and existing Right to Buy receipts from 3 years to 5 years. This is 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 can fund using Right to Buy receipts from 30% to 40%. This aims 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 will 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 has also been frozen at 50% until 2025, at which point it will 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 DLUHC

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: NewsDesk@levellingup.gov.uk

Public enquiries:

Email: housing.statistics@levellingup.gov.uk

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

Information about statistics at DLUHC 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 2022, plus all eligible sales from April 2022 to March 2023 which were Right to Buy. Non-eligible local authority Right to Buy sales and Private Registered Provider Right to Buy sales for the financial year 2022-23 are not included in this figure. ↩

2. There were 6,865 eligible sales in 2020-21, a decrease of 35% compared to 2019-20. This large decrease was due in part to the restrictions introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. ↩

3. Data from Local Authority Housing Statistics. ↩

4. This was increased in April 2021 from 3 years to 5 years. ↩

5. 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. ↩

6. Local Authority Housing Statistics, as of 31 March 2022. ↩