Official Statistics

Right to Buy sales in England, January to March 2021

Published 15 July 2021

Applies to England

Upcoming changes to publication: From 2021-22 Q1 (April to June 2021) the Official Statistics on Right to Buy sales in England will be published annually, with management information figures published on a quarterly basis in between the annual Official Statistics releases. We welcome input from users on the content of these future publications via our consultation.

We intend to publish the April to June 2021 Right to Buy sales management information in October 2021. The date will be pre-announced on the GOV.UK publication release calendar

1. Quarterly headline figures

In 2020-21 Q4 (1 January to 31 March 2021):

The total number of Right to Buy sales was an estimated 2,021

From Right to Buy sales, local authorities received
£187m

The average receipt per dwelling was
£ 92,341

The number of properties started or acquired by local authorities, using recycled Right to Buy receipts, was 2,060 the highest quarterly value recorded since 2012-13

2. Annual headline figures

In 2020-21

The total number of Right to Buy sales was an estimated 6,850 down by 35% compared to 2019-20

The number of properties started or acquired by local authorities, using recycled Right to Buy receipts, was 5,227 down by 9% compared to 2019-20

3. Right to Buy sales

These statistics relate to sales by local authorities under the Right to Buy scheme only which are subject to the Right to Buy receipt pooling requirements and exclude sales by Private Registered Providers (PRPs) under preserved/voluntary Right to Buy. Sales by PRPs are recorded in the Official Statistics on Social housing sales. Figures are collected from local authority returns to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

In Q4 2020-21, local authorities sold 2,021 dwellings under the Right to Buy scheme. This represents a decrease of 27 per cent from the 2,782 sold in Q4 2019-2020. This decline may be due, in large part, to the restrictions introduced in response to the CoVID-19 pandemic.

Table 1: Quarterly Right to Buy sales, England 2006-07 to Q4 2020-21

Year	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
2006-07	4,655	4,538	4,470	4,021	17,684
2007-08	3,553	3,454	2,954	2,082	12,043
2008-09	1,286	851	455	277	2,869
2009-10	293	532	789	761	2,375
2010-11	657	689	714	698	2,758
2011-12	615	764	693	566	2,638
2012-13	442	1,041	2,010	2,451	5,943
2013-14	2,178	2,833	2,847	3,374	11,232
2014-15	2,852	2,845	3,294	3,318	12,310
2015-16	2,779	2,939	3,253	3,280	12,251
2016-17	3,417	3,251	3,469	3,304	13,442
2017-18	3,017	3,054	3,272	3,272	12,616
2018-19	2,607	2,575	2,887	2,842	10,910
2019-20	2,514	2,731	2,545	2,782	10,572
2020-21	1,561	1,732	1,536	2,021	6,850

In the latest quarter, sales were 57 per cent below those in Q1 2006-07. However, the number of sales was over 3 times more than in Q4 2011-12, the last quarter before changes were made to the Right to Buy scheme to reinvigorate numbers of sales. ^{[footnote 1]}

Chart 1 below shows total Right to Buy sales for the rolling year ending in March. During the 12-month period to the end of March 2021 there were 6,850 Right to Buy sales. This represents 0.4 per cent of the total number of dwellings owned by local authorities, which was around 1.58 million on 31 March 2020. ^{[footnote 2]}

Chart 1: Annual Right to Buy sales in England, year ending March 2007 to 2021

Right to Buy sales decreased between the years ending March 2007 and March 2009, coinciding with the beginning of the global financial crisis. 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.

Since the year ending March 2017, there has been a downward trend in the number of local authority owned dwellings sold to social tenants, with sales in the year ending March 2021 reaching the lowest annual figure since the year ending March 2013 (reinvigoration started in April 2012).

4. Right to Buy sales by region

Chart 2 summarises annual Right to Buy sales figures by region in England, from year ending March 2007 to March 2021.

The pattern of sales varies between regions, partly due to the difference in size of local authority owned housing stock. Across all regions, sales followed an upward trend immediately after the reinvigoration, with the sharpest increase in London. Following this period of growth, the number of Right to Buy sales in London started to decline after the year ending March 2015 reaching a post-reinvigoration low point in the latest year. Despite this decrease, the number of sales in London is still significantly higher than the sales recorded before reinvigoration between 2009 and 2012.

For the remaining regions, between the years ending March 2013 and March 2018, there was either a continued increase in sales or a relative steady number of sales. Since the year ending March 2018, all regions have seen a decline in Right to Buy sales.

Chart 2: Annual Right to Buy sales by region in England, year ending March 2007 to March 2021

Note: As the values in Chart 2 are annual sales for year ending in March, the direct effects on sales of the national restrictions from March to June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be seen explicitly.

These graphs are not adjusted to the size of the local authority stock holdings in each region, or any transfers of stock that happened during the period. For example, there were over 240,000 Local Authority owned social housing stock in the North West at 1 April 2006, but due to several large scale voluntary transfers to Private Registered Providers (PRPs) between 2007 and 2015 the stock at 31 March 2020 was 66% less than it had been in 2006. This partly explains why the North West did not have the same growth in Local Authority Right to Buy sales following reinvigoration as some other regions.^{[footnote 2]}

5. Right to Buy receipts

Table 2 and Table 3 below show the quarterly Right to Buy receipts resulting from social housing sales and the quarterly average receipts per dwelling in England since Q1 2012-13.

In Q4 2020-21, local authorities in England received £187 million from Right to Buy sales, 20 per cent lower than the £234 million received in the same quarter of 2019-20. This reflects the general pattern in the number of sales.

Table 2: Quarterly Right to Buy receipts, England, Q1 2012-13 to Q4 2020-21, £ millions.

Year	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
2012-13	24.0	61.1	125.0	157.4	367.5
2013-14	131.0	180.2	196.3	242.7	750.2
2014-15	212.1	210.2	249.0	261.0	932.3
2015-16	221.3	230.7	261.2	273.0	986.2
2016-17	287.2	283.9	296.8	275.5	1,143.3
2017-18	257.7	257.8	276.1	267.7	1,059.3
2018-19	213.8	214.9	251.6	238.2	918.6
2019-20	209.9	228.6	224.5	233.8	896.8
2020-21	140.9	162.9	145.3	186.6	635.8

The average receipt per dwelling sold in Q4 2020-21 was £92,341, the third highest value recorded (see Table 3). Receipts are sensitive to the type, size and location of the properties sold, as well as their discount percentage; and therefore, the average receipt per dwelling is likely to fluctuate.

Table 3: Quarterly average receipts per dwelling, England, Q1 2012-13 to Q4 2020-21, £ thousands.

Year	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
2012-13	54.3	58.7	62.2	64.2	61.8
2013-14	60.1	63.6	68.9	71.9	66.8
2014-15	74.4	73.9	75.6	78.7	75.7
2015-16	79.6	78.5	80.3	83.2	80.5
2016-17	84.1	87.3	85.6	83.4	85.1
2017-18	85.4	84.4	84.4	81.8	84.0
2018-19	82.0	83.5	87.1	83.8	84.2
2019-20	83.5	83.7	88.2	84.0	84.8
2020-21	90.3	94.1	94.6	92.3	92.8

6. Starts and acquisitions

Between April 2012 and July 2014 the government made changes to the discounts available in Right to Buy scheme to increase the number of sales. An estimate of the expected sales without these increases to the discount cap was calculated using projections from Her Majesty’s Treasury’s (HMT) self-financing model. Any Right to Buy sales above these projections are considered ‘additional’ and are subject to the one-for-one additions policy, which is a commitment to provide an affordable dwelling for each additional Right to Buy dwelling sold.^{[footnote 1]}

Under the Right to Buy one-for-one additions policy, prior to April 2021 local authorities had three years from the date of the sale of each additional home to provide a replacement affordable property. As part of changes being made to the scheme, from April 2021 local authorities will have 5 years to provide a replacement. If a local authority does not provide a replacement affordable property, a proportion of the receipt is transferred to Homes England (HE) or the Greater London Authority (GLA), who use these recycled Right to Buy receipts to deliver additional affordable homes. The actual replacements are calculated from starts and acquisitions from Q1 2012-13 to Q4 2020-21. This is measured against the replacement target which is calculated from the cumulative additional sales from Q1 2012-13 to Q4 2017-18.

Between Q1 2012-13 and Q4 2020-21 there were 36,380 additional affordable properties started or acquired, falling short of the three years’ replacement commitment. This is measured against the replacement target 46,108 (i.e. the number of additional sales between Q1 2012-13 and Q4 2017-18).

Table 4a: Total quarterly Right to Buy starts on site and acquisitions, by local authorities, HE and the GLA, England, Q1 2012-13 to Q4 2020-21, dwellings.

Year	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
2012-13	24	130	80	340	574
2013-14	120	372	406	830	1,728
2014-15	797	733	658	1,302	3,490
2015-16	376	599	495	1,059	2,529
2016-17	777	1,302	1,136	1,689	4,904
2017-18	1,150	1,019	1,557	1,749	5,475
2018-19	962	1,244	1,128	2,041	5,375
2019-20	1,487	1,399	1,453	1,725	6,064
2020-21	761	764	1,839	2,877	6,241
Total					36,380

In Q4 2020-21, there were 2,877 starts on site and acquisitions. This was higher than any other quarter since this information was first recorded in 2012-13 (see Table 4a). Starts and acquisitions by local authorities only in Q4 2020-21 was also the highest quarterly figure since 2012-13 (see Table 4b). The increase in the number of starts on site and acquisitions in Q4 2020-21 is likely due to pent-up demand as a result of the impact of CoVID-19 and the associated lockdown in the Spring of 2020 which meant that starts in Q1 and Q2 2020-21 were the lowest since 2015-16.

Table 4b: Total quarterly Right to Buy starts on site and acquisitions by local authorities only, England, Q1 2012-13 to Q4 2020-21, dwellings.

Year	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
2012-13	24	130	80	340	574
2013-14	120	372	406	499	1,397
2014-15	530	542	547	840	2,459
2015-16	376	599	495	1,037	2,507
2016-17	777	1,289	1,071	1,578	4,715
2017-18	1,070	966	1,545	1,594	5,175
2018-19	952	1,209	1,102	1,817	5,080
2019-20	1,487	1,399	1,453	1,428	5,767
2020-21	761	732	1,674	2,060	5,227
Total					32,901

Out of the 36,380 new starts and acquisitions, 32,901 were delivered by local authorities and 3,479 by HE and the GLA (see Table 4a/4b). Details of starts on site and completions (including acquisitions) using recycled Right to Buy receipts since 2014-15 can be found in live tables 1011S and 1011C.

Chart 3: Annual Right to Buy starts on site and acquisitions by local authorities, England, year ending March 2013 to year ending March 2021.

Chart 3 shows a general trend of increasing numbers of starts on site and acquisitions using 1-4-1 Right to Buy receipts since the year ending March 2013. Other than a slight decrease in 2018, starts continually increased from 2013 to 2020 before a 9% year-on-year drop in the 12 months to March 2021. This can be attributed to the large reduction in starts and acquisitions the 6 months from April to September 2020 (down 49% compared to the same period in 2019).

In England, there is a large variation across regions on the number of acquisitions and starts on site. Chart 4 shows that London, the South East and the East of England have had more starts on sites and acquisitions than the other regions of England.

Chart 4: Annual starts on site and acquisitions by local authorities, by region in England, year ending year ending March 2013 to year ending March 2021.

6.1 Comparing starts with acquisitions

Beginning with Q1 2017-18, local authorities were asked to split the Right to Buy replacements provided between new build starts and acquisitions.

Since Q1 2017-18, a total of 21,261 dwellings have been started on site or acquired by local authorities from recycled Right to Buy receipts. Of these, 20,431 were able to be identified in more detail: 10,684 (52 per cent) were identified as starts on site for new builds and 9,747 (48 per cent) as acquisitions.^{[footnote 3]}

7. History of 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 increased annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation. The maximum discount in 2020-21 Q4 was £112,300 in London and £84,200 in the rest of England.

The government’s aim is that for every additional property sold under Right to Buy, a new affordable home for rent will be provided nationally under the one-for-one additions policy. Under the reinvigorated Right to Buy, local authorities are now able to keep the receipts from additional Right to Buy sales to fund additional affordable housing.

8. Accompanying tables

8.1 Tables

Accompanying tables are available to download alongside this release. These are:

Live Table 691 Quarterly Right to Buy sales by local authority

Live Table 692 Quarterly Right to Buy receipts by local authority

Live Table 693 Quarterly starts on site and acquisitions by local authority

9. Consultation

As part of changes to the Right to Buy one-for-one receipts policy, which were put to consultation with local authorities in autumn 2018, there will be changes to the data collection which local authorities complete on a quarterly and yearly basis. This will lead to a reduced amount of data being available on a quarterly basis, which will now be published as management information, but more in-depth information available on a yearly basis than is currently available, which will continue to be published as Official Statistics.

We would like to take this opportunity to get feedback from users on how they use the information and how they would like to see future information presented.

Please see the consultation.

10. Technical notes

Please see the accompanying technical notes document for further details.

11. Enquiries

Media enquiries: Office hours: 0303 444 1209

Email: NewsDesk@communities.gov.uk

Public enquiries and Responsible Statistician: Niall McSharry

Email: housing.statistics@communities.gov.uk

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. The government made changes to the Right to Buy scheme, increasing the maximum discounts available to public sector tenants in April 2012 (to £75,000 across England without regional differentials), in March 2013 (to £100,000 in London) and in July 2014 (with maximum discounts increasing annually, in line with the Consumer Price Index). ↩ ↩²

2. Table 116: local authority dwelling stock, by district, England, from 1994 ↩ ↩²

3. For the remaining 830 units it was not specified if the unit was a start on site or an acquisition. ↩