Accredited official statistics

Social housing sales and demolitions 2024-25: Technical notes

Published 12 February 2026

Applies to England

1. Accredited Official Statistics status

This publication is badged as Accredited Official Statistics (referred to as ‘National Statistics’ in the 2007 Statistics Act).

Accredited Official Statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government statisticians to maintain compliance with these standards. The designation of these statistics as Accredited Official Statistics was first confirmed in December 2011 following an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority. These statistics last underwent a compliance check against the Code of Practice for Statistics in June 2018. 

The ‘Net supply of social housing for rent’ bulletin in this release is badged as Official Statistics in Development (formerly known as Experimental Statistics). These statistics are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed. Users should be aware that Official Statistics in Development will potentially have a wider degree of uncertainty. The limitations of the statistics are explained later in these notes.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

2. Data collection

2.1 Overview

The statistics in this publication and related tables are based on six sources:

1. The Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS) data collection administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and its predecessors;

2. The Statistical Data Return (SDR) from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH);

3. The COntinuous REcording (CORE) of social housing sales data collection run by MHCLG ;

4. The Investment Management System (IMS) administration system run by Homes England;

5. The GLAOps system used by the Greater London Authority;

6. Affordable Housing Supply statistics.

Data from LAHS and the SDR is used to compile social housing sales totals in Live Table 678, demolitions in Live Table 684 and the headline figures for this report. These sections include sales under the Right to Buy, Preserved Right to Buy, Voluntary Right to Buy, Right to Acquire, Social HomeBuy, 100% staircased low-cost home ownership and sales for non-social use. The figures exclude initial sales (first tranche) through low-cost home ownership schemes, such as shared ownership, and those sales which do not relate to existing social stock, i.e. sales of newly built homes for shared ownership or acquisitions of private sector homes for affordable home ownership. Sale and transfers of social housing stock for social housing use between social housing providers are also excluded. The information on initial sales (first tranche) of Shared Ownership included in this release is collected through CORE data return.

2.2 Right to Buy data 

Right to Buy Sales of local authority stock are collected through LAHS. This provides information at district level for all local authority council Right to Buy sales as well as discounts. The Regulator of Social Housing collects stock sale information from private registered providers (PRPs) through the Statistical Data Return (SDR).

Since the January 2022 release, to maintain consistency with other columns in table 678, the main source for these sales has been changed to LAHS and the P1B forms, the precursor to LAHS. In previous versions of this publication, the Pooling of Capital Receipts return was used as the main source of data for local authority Right to Buy sales.

2.3 Shared Ownership

The number of 100% staircased sales of shared ownership properties by local authorities is also included in table 678. Data on these sales by local authorities are only available from 2018-19 and is collected in LAHS. Data on these sales by private registered providers is collected in the SDR.

2.4 CORE data

Shared ownership sales and discounted sales to tenants (for example under Preserved Right to Buy or Right to Acquire) are recorded at the point of initial sale in CORE. Private Registered Providers are required to complete CORE Sales logs. Social landlords that are not registered with the Social Housing Regulator but affiliated to the National Housing Federation are invited on a voluntary basis to complete CORE Sales logs. Local authorities are also invited to return the forms on a voluntary basis, but only a small number choose to do so. The data from CORE is therefore almost exclusively consistent of PRP sales. 

Additionally, some entries are imputed or removed where appropriate due to incompleteness or data quality issues in the financial information. As such, the CORE Sales figures reported in this release do not cover all private registered provider sales, and instead should be considered a subset of private registered provider sales and be treated as a convenience sample.

The CORE Sales return captures information on each individual sale ^{[footnote 1]}, including the demographic characteristics of the purchaser. These demographic questions are voluntary however and not reported for all sales. CORE is also used to estimate the proportion of Right to Buy sales that are flats. CORE records for Shared Ownership sales are included in the characteristics and financial sections. 

2.5 Homes England and Greater London Authority

The IMS is a Homes England system for administering grants. In areas coved by the GLA this is now recorded by GLAOps as part of the GLA’s Affordable Housing Statistics. These sources provide data on private registered provider Right to Acquire and Social HomeBuy sales. These are considered the preferred sources for these data. However, data on these schemes collected through the SDR is used in the headline figures and Live Table 678 for consistency with other data. Data from these sources is presented in Live Tables 677 and 683, respectively.

Affordable Housing Supply statistics are collated from LAHS, GLAOps and the IMS, as well as:

• The Project Control System (PCS) used by Homes England and, until 2017-18, by the Greater London Authority, which contains data on a number of housing and regeneration programmes. These data are also published in Homes England’s Housing statistics publication.

• Homes England’s figures for Private Finance Initiative (these ceased in 2017-18).

• Greater London Authority’s figures on additional units not reported in the main IMS/GLAOps returns.

• Administrative data from the Department’s Affordable Homes Guarantees programme delivery partner.

• The July data from the bi-annual Traveller Caravan count (TCC) published by MHCLG , which records the number of caravans and pitches on sites across England at January and July.

3. Data quality

3.1 Things to note on this release

For the February 2026 release, there have been the following changes or updates to the historical data:

• The methodology for calculating the proportion of private registered provider Right to Buy sales that were flats has been updated, and the financial averages have been revised. This was done to ensure that voluntary submissions from local authorities to CORE on Right to Buy have been removed from the dataset. Previously, these submissions were included alongside PRP data and removing them ensures that the figures reflect PRP sales only. Although LA submissions made up a very small proportion of the data, this change affects historical proportions. It impacts PRP data in Live Tables 681 and 682 only.

• CORE Sales reports around half of the expected number of sales by PRPs under Preserved and Voluntary Right expected based on data from the Regulator of Social Housing, which is used in Live Table 678. In the last two years (2023-24 and 2024-25) there were around 1,600 such sales reported in Live Table 678. Considering that only half of those are reported, some care needs to be taken in interpreting the financial averages presented in Live Table 682.

The following changes have been made to the live tables accompanying this release:

• Live Table 682 is now an A11y table, meaning is it accessible, and the LA and PRP data are presented on separate tabs. 

• Live Table 678 is now an A11y table, and the LA, PRP and Total figures are presented on separate tabs. 

As in the previous release, the official statistics in development on net supply of social housing for rent are presented in a separate section as part of this release. Further information on these statistics is available later in these technical notes.

Sections B and K of the Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS) are released alongside this publication. The scheduled revisions for LAHS are expected to be published in June/July 2026.  The live tables for this release that rely on these data will be updated then.

3.2 Assessment of data quality

In 2015, the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) published a regulatory standard for the quality assurance of administrative data. To assess the quality of the data provided for this release, the department has followed that standard. The standard is supported with an Administrative Data Quality Assurance Toolkit which provides useful guidance on the practices that can be adopted to assure the quality of the data they utilise.

The Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistical release is produced by MHCLG based on data provided by Homes England, the Regulator of Social Housing, the Greater London Authority, Local Authorities and other data collections held by the department. An assessment of the level of risk based on the Quality Assurance Toolkit is as follows:

Risk/Profile Matrix Statistical Series	Administrative Source	Data Quality Concern	Public Interest	Matrix Classification
Social Housing Sales Statistics	Homes England, GLA and Local Authorities’ individual data systems	Low	Medium	Medium Risk [A1]

The publication of Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistics can be considered as medium profile, as there has been mainstream media interest, with moderate economic and/or political sensitivity. The data quality concern is considered low given that the data is checked by providers and most of the data would have been released in publications that are compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics and subject to data quality checks prior to publication. However, in particular the official statistics in development estimating the net supply of social housing are based on a new methodology and emerging data sources. Overall, the Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistics have been assessed as A1/Medium Risk.

External data sources (GLAOps, IMS and the SDR) undergo their own internal data quality processes. Statistics which come from these sources are compared by MHCLG statisticians to previous years’ data, and MHCLG will contact the data providers if any potential issues are identified.

LAHS and CORE sales data are collected and quality assured by MHCLG statisticians. The LAHS collection is on the Single Data List, and continuous engagement with the Central Local Information Partnership Housing (CLIP-H) subgroup ensures that changes to the form are approved by providers. If changes are not approved, changes can be either adapted, dropped or further burden assessments performed.

All data are pulled together into live tables and the statistical bulletins, which are quality assured by another statistician.

3.3 Operational context and administrative data collection

As some local authorities do not own any stock and therefore cannot make any social housing sales, they provide no information through their LAHS return. As at 31 March 2025, there were 296 local authorities, of which 162 reported having a Housing Revenue Account (HRA). Local authorities are required to have an HRA if they own at least 200 units, and some local authorities may own a small amount of stock without having an HRA. Local authorities which own stock but do not have an HRA may still report sales to tenants of relevant residual stock. Local authorities must sign off their return to confirm it meets the required quality checks. Two authorities (London Borough of Hillingdon and London Borough of Bromley) did not provide any data in LAHS. Four authorities (London Borough of Southwark, Sunderland City Council, Liverpool City Council, and London Borough of Croydon) submitted incomplete returns. Additionally, one authority (Tendring District Council) provided a late return, meaning that while it was completed, it wasn’t fully quality assured in a timely manner before the release. This will be rectified for the June 2026 update.

Every effort is made to collect data from every local authority, but on occasion estimates may be used (see the section on imputation below). Care should be taken using data at a local authority level as the totals are low and therefore can vary greatly year on year.

All private registered provider social landlords that are registered with the RSH complete the SDR which includes data on changes to their stock, including sales and demolitions. The SDR sales data does not include information on property type. Until 2022-23, the data for sales to sitting tenants was not broken down by type of sale at local authority level, but from 2022-23 onwards this breakdown is included in the open data. This information is only available from large providers with over 1,000 stock. 

Data on the characteristics of the properties sold by private registered providers is taken from COntinuous REcording (CORE) returns. 

The SDR does not ask private registered providers to provide financial information on their sales of stock. However, CORE returns do include financial data on social housing sales. The financial information is instead taken from CORE and summarised as the arithmetic mean values for the reported sales.

The CORE Sales data undergoes some imputation of financial variables such as mortgage, property value, and deposit. For the purposes of analysing financial data, some entries are removed due to missing data or data quality issues . As a result, the final data used for this release has complete financial information, some of which has been imputed. CORE Sales reports around half of the expected number of sales by PRPs under Preserved and, previously, Voluntary Right expected based on data from the Regulator of Social Housing, which is used in Live Table 678. In the last two years (2023-24 and 2024-25) there were around 1,600 such sales reported in Live Table 678. Considering that only half of those are reported, some care needs to be taken in interpreting the financial averages discussed

Homes England and the GLA collect information provided by PRPs that have applied to receive grants on the number of Right to Acquire and PRP Social HomeBuy figures. Because they are based on grant funded completions, these are the preferred series for these data, and they are published in Live Tables 677 and 683 respectively. However, data on Right to Acquire and Social HomeBuy are also reported through the SDR and used for the headline figure and as part of Live Table 678, for consistency of data sources in that table.

3.4 Communication with data supply partners

There are regular contacts with the data suppliers for this release to ensure that there is a common understanding of what information is being supplied. Communication with suppliers is managed through a number of formats, e.g. regular contact with local authority data providers and the Central Local Information Partnership Housing subgroup (CLIP-H).

For data collected in LAHS please see the technical notes. CORE Sales communication is delivered primarily via its website.

There is a clear Memorandum of Understanding between MHCLG, Homes England and the GLA outlining the terms of what data are provided and timescales.

3.5 QA principles, standards and checks by data suppliers

The SDR collection and release have been assessed and are badged as an Accredited Official Statistics Publication.

The LAHS data return is also badged as Accredited Official Statistics and contains mandatory and non-mandatory questions. Validation rules have been developed at both collection point and during data processing. Where a validation rule has triggered values, these are queried with the respective local authority. Further details on the QA of this return can be found in the LAHS technical notes .

The Mayor of London has a commitment to achieve full compliance with the Code of Practice and the GLA revises its data to ensure quality of information. Details of the operational context and quality assurance procedures of how these figures are collected are included in those sources.

The CORE Sales data is provided from around 170 Private Registered Providers, but the department does not have full oversight of their systems and quality procedures. We provide clear guidance and documentation to them via the CORE system. Data received by the Department undergoes an extensive validation and imputation process.

3.6 Producers’ QA investigation and documentation

Whilst providers are expected to carry out their own checks before the data is submitted for this publication, further quality assurance is carried out once the data is received by the responsible statisticians for this publication. The data are compiled together and compared to the raw data, published figures, historical time series and policy information that may have impacted the figures. Queries are escalated to producers if it is necessary to clarify further. The data, report and tables are quality assured independently by another statistician in the production team. Further final checks are performed to the final end product.

These checks use a clear checklist approach to ensure the figures are consistent across the release and live tables, with each check being systematically signed off when it has been completed.

4. Imputation 

Imputations are performed on CORE Sales data.

Imputation rules are based on checks of multiple fields and examination of extreme or inconsistent values. For this release, imputation is performed in cases where the mortgage and/or deposit are unknown, but the sale price was known. Where either mortgage or the deposit are missing, the missing value is calculated based on the other value and the sale price. Where both entries were missing, the deposit is assumed to be equal to 10% of the sale price. Entries with impossible values (e.g. a deposit greater than the market value of the property) are corrected or imputed where possible based on the available values, or otherwise removed. More detail on the imputation process is available upon request. 

For LAHS, imputations are done in cases where the sum of categories does not match the corresponding total. For further details, please see the LAHS technical notes.

The Regulator of Social Housing does not apply imputation to their data but does apply weighting. For further details, see the SDR technical notes.

5. Definitions

Figures on social housing sales include only sales which result in existing stock leaving the social sector. These include sales under Right to Buy (RTB), Preserved Right to Buy (PRTB), Voluntary Right to Buy (VRTB), Right to Acquire (RTA), Social HomeBuy (SHB), other outright or shared equity sales to tenants and sales for non-social use (to other private registered providers or to the private sector). Also included are sales of low cost home ownership stock, like shared ownership, where the tenant has reached 100% ownership through staircasing transactions.

Sales of other kinds, such as initial shared ownership sales (first tranche) of newly built social stock or of private sector stock, partial staircasing transactions, stock transfers to Registered Providers, either from local authorities or other PRPs, are not included in the total social housing sales figures.

The figures do not include sales and transfers between local authorities and PRPs. Large Scale Voluntary Transfers (LSVTs) of local authority stock to PRPs and sales and transfers between PRPs for social housing purposes are not included in these figures. Further information on Large Scale Voluntary Transfers (LSVTs) of local authority stock to PRPs can be found in MHCLG ’s Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS) and the RSH’s Statistical Data Return (SDR).

Demolitions are not included in the total social housing sales figures and are presented separately.

5.1 Other definitions

The definitions used in this publication can be found in the ‘Housing statistics and English Housing survey’s glossary published by MHCLG .

6. Revisions policy

This policy has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Statistics and the MHCLG Revisions Policy. It covers two types of revisions that the policy covers;

6.1 Non-scheduled revisions

Where a substantial error has occurred as a result of the compilation, imputation or dissemination process, the statistical release, live tables and other accompanying releases will be updated with a correction notice as soon as is practical.

6.2 Scheduled revisions

Revisions to previous annual data are generally incorporated in the next release. Figures are not published in these statistics with a provisional status (but imputed estimates may be used). Revised figures are highlighted in the live tables.

Following scheduled revisions to the LAHS datasets in June/July 2026, Live Tables 678, 681, 682, 684 and 691b may also be revised at the same time if necessary.

7. Other information

7.1 Uses of these statistics

These statistics are used to monitor social housing sales including Right to Buy sales and analyse the effectiveness of policy changes around Right to Buy and the housing sector. These statistics also allow to have a measure of the two main types of losses to the social housing sector: sales and demolitions of existing stock.

We have included a section contrasting the number of sales and demolitions of social housing with comparable new supply of affordable housing for rent (including acquisitions).

Data published alongside this release also provides important information on personal and financial characteristics of some of those buying properties through private registered providers, including existing tenants, those using Shared Ownership schemes or buying outright. These data also provide further information on these schemes. For instance, in LAHS, there is information now being collected on local authority Shared Ownership staircasing transactions that helps monitor the effectiveness of this scheme and the number of transactions that lead to the maximum allowed ownership. Data on staircasing of private registered provider shared ownership sales has been collected since April 2021.

8. Net supply of social housing for rent (official statistics in development)

8.1 Background

In this release, we have published new official statistics in development estimating the net supply of social housing for rent at various tenures by comparing the inflows and outflows of social housing for rent in England. This section of the technical notes relates only to this part of the release.

Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing a development; they may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Users should be aware that official statistics in development will potentially have a higher degree of uncertainty.

We have collected new data and further developed a methodology to estimate the net change in social housing for rent by looking at the profile of gains and losses at each tenure. This is to meet demand from users for a net measure, including a July 2020 recommendation by the Housing, Communities and Local Government select committee that:

The government must publish statistics on net additions of the different tenures of affordable housing per year, taking into account completions, sales, demolitions and conversions. These statistics are currently disparate or not collected. This is especially important to track changes in social rented stock which has been affected by significant number of conversions to affordable rent and Right to Buy sales. Data will need to be collected on Right to Buy sales for each tenure, demolitions per tenure, change of use per tenure, and all other reductions. This will bring social housing data in line with overall housing supply data.

In October 2020, the government published its response to the select committee report. Specifically to the recommendation above, it responded that:

The department already publishes overall stock figures for local authority and private registered providers, the latter collected by the Regulator of Social Housing, including some information by social and affordable rent. Data already collected and published includes:

• Local authority stock, including the social and affordable rent stock held within Housing Revenue Accounts;

• Demolitions and conversions by local authorities;

• Similar information for Private Registered Providers, which is collected by the Regulator of Social Housing;

• Social Housing sales, including Right to Buy and;

• Additional units to the affordable housing stock, by tenure, including those of local authorities, Private Registered Providers and Non-Registered Providers

We have since worked with local authorities and the Regulator of Social Housing (which collects data from private registered providers) to collect all data necessary to provide a more comprehensive estimate, including by tenure.

8.2 Data collection and quality

These estimates of net supply of social housing for rent combine data on gains and losses from:

• Section K of the Local Authority Housing Statistics published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), covering local authorities with a Housing Revenue Account

• The stock balance sheet of the Statistical Data Return additional tables for large private registered providers (those that own at least 1,000 stock).

We estimate these providers combined own 97% of social housing for rent in England ^{[footnote 2]}.

Social housing for rent is defined in section 69 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, also referred to as low cost rental accommodation in the Act. For the purpose of these statistics, it includes homes owned by local authorities and private registered providers at the following tenures: social rent, affordable rent (including London affordable rent), and intermediate rent. For definitions of these tenures, please refer to the housing statistics glossary.

Although the data used for our estimates is available at local authority level for stock owned by local authorities (in Section K of the Local Authority Housing Statistics collection, data returned by private registered providers is not currently available by local authority area. We will continue to explore ways to obtain this data in future.

8.3 Comparisons with other available data

The most direct measure of the change in the stock of social housing for rent can be calculated by comparing private registered provider and local authority housing stock over time ^{[footnote 3]}, as this covers all local authorities and private registered providers. However, this measure lacks information on the gains and losses which drive changes between annual stock figures.

The estimates of net supply presented in this release differ from the observed change in the stock of social housing for rent from one year to the next. In the year ending 31 March 2025, the estimate of net supply of social housing for rent is an increase of 23,189 units. But when looking at the overall change in stock, there were an additional 24,046 units of social housing for rent at 31 March 2025 compared with the previous year ^{[footnote 3]}. This is 857 units higher than the estimate of net supply in this release.

There are several definitional differences between these two measures which explains this:

• The figure for private registered provider stock published by the Regulator of Social Housing includes both small and large providers (those that own more or less than 1,000 stock), whereas the data on gains and losses in the stock balance sheet of the Statistical Data Return additional tables, which informs our estimate of net supply, excludes small providers ^{[footnote 4] [footnote 5]}. Large private registered providers own 96% of social housing for rent in England ^{[footnote 6]}. The response rate to the Statistical Data Return for these providers was 100%. Therefore, the coverage of our measure of net supply is 96% for private registered providers. Hence, this may cause discrepancies and comparisons should be made with caution.

• All local authority housing stock is covered by the Regulator for Social Housing’s Local Authority Data Return. Whereas data from the Section K of the Local Authority Housing Statistics used to calculate our estimate of net supply is only mandatory for local authorities with a Housing Revenue Account (those that own at least 200 stock). These local authorities own more than 99% of local authority housing for rent in England ^{[footnote 7]}. However, this data was not returned by all these local authorities in full in 2024-25.

• LAHS did not have a 100% response rate in 2024-25. For the purpose of our Net Supply and comparison figures, Croydon and Hillingdon did not provided data for Section K. Together they account for around 23,000 local authority Housing Revenue Account stock. Therefore, direct comparisons across years should be made with caution.

• The inclusion (or not) of temporary accommodation explains in large part the differences between the methodology presented here and the year-on-year local authority stock differences. Temporary accommodation is excluded from Section K of the Local Authority Housing Statistics but it is included in the Regulator for Social Housing’s Local Authority Data Return if the units meet the legal definition of social housing. In 2024-25, this seems to account for most of the differences in the net numbers of local authority affordable rent between the two sources.

• There may also be differences between the two measures due to the timing of gains and losses recorded in different data sources, particularly with transfers of stock from private registered providers to local authorities (and vice versa) near the start or the end of the financial year. For instance, we are aware of around 200 transfers from private registered providers to local authorities being recorded as losses in 2022-23 in the Statistical Data Return, which seem to only appear recorded as gains for local authorities in the following year of the Local Authority Housing Statistics.

The tables below summarise the differences in coverage between the two measures for private registered providers and local authorities respectively.

Table 1: Private registered providers: Comparison of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) measure of the change in stock and the MHCLG measure of the net supply of social housing for rent

Comparison	RSH stock change measure	MHCLG net supply measure
Description	Difference between private registered provider stock of social housing for rent held at year end compared with previous year	Gains of private registered provider stock of social housing for rent during year minus losses of private registered provider stock of social housing for rent during year
Data source	Statistical Data Return Additional Table 1.1	Statistical Data Return stock balance sheet
Coverage	Includes small and large providers	Includes large providers only (96% of rental stock [footnote 6])
Response rate	100% large provider response rate, small providers weighted for non-response	100% large provider response rate, small providers excluded
Data quality issues	None applicable	Stock flow data for private registered providers merging during the year are not always captured [footnote 4] . Currently some transfers to other providers are recorded together with other losses [footnote 5], but from 2024-25 these will be in separate categories
Other considerations	Data is weighted for small providers’ non-response Some Social Rent totals also include Intermediate Rent	Data is not weighted The stock balance sheet only covers large private registered providers owning registered on 31 March each year. This means that stock flow data for smaller providers, or those who have developed within year but subsequently deregistered, will not be captured. Additionally, as providers only report activities which they have undertaken, units transferred into a provider may include development activity carried out by precursor bodies prior to a merger

The stock balance sheet only covers large private registered providers owning registered on 31 March each year. This means that stock flow data for smaller providers, or those who have developed within year but subsequently deregistered, will not be captured. Additionally, as providers only report activities which they have undertaken, units transferred into a provider may include development activity carried out by precursor bodies prior to a merger.

Table 2: Local authorities: Comparison of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) measure of the change in stock and the MHCLG measure of the net supply of social housing for rent

Comparison	RSH stock change measure	MHCLG net supply measure
Description	Difference between local authority stock of social housing for rent held at year end compared with previous year	Gains of local authority stock of social housing for rent during year minus losses of local authority stock of social housing for rent during year
Data source	Local Authority Data Return Additional Table 1.1	Local Authority Housing Statistics Section K
Coverage	All local authorities	Local authorities with Housing Revenue Account only (more than 99% of rental stock [footnote 7])
Response rate	100% response rate	Croydon and Hillingdon provided no data for Section K
Data quality issues	None applicable	Croydon and Hillingdon provided no data for Section K. Together these two account for around 23,000 local authority HRA stock. Therefore, this has a large impact on totals and comparisons
Other considerations	Temporary accommodation is included in the Regulator for Social Housing’s Local Authority Data Return if the units meet the legal definition of social housing	Does not include temporary accommodation Data for previous years subject to regular revisions

It is possible to account for some of the differences in coverage by restricting the Regulator of Social Housing’s data to local authorities with a Housing Revenue Account and by using stock data for large private registered providers only. Any remaining differences are likely due to data quality issues listed in the tables above.

After accounting for differences in coverage, the overall difference between the two measures across all social housing for rent increases slightly from 857 to 3,171 units, as shown in the table below.

Table 3: Comparison of net supply of social housing for rent (social rent, affordable rent, London affordable rent, and intermediate rent) against changes in stock reported by the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH), 2024-25

Provider	RSH stock changes, all PRPs, all local authorities [footnote 3]	RSH stock changes, large PRPs, HRA local authorities [footnote 8]	MHCLG net supply estimate, large PRPs, HRA local authorities
Local authorities	-2,180	+2,384	+202
Private Registered Providers	+26,226	+23,976	+22,987
Total	+24,046	+26,360	+23,189

For social rent, both measures show a net decrease, of 3,834 from our estimate of net supply and 2,320 in the stock figures from the Regulator of Social Housing after adjusting for differences in coverage, as shown in the table below. However, these figures are not directly comparable because, in addition to the definitional differences discussed above, the Regulator of Social Housing stock figures for social rent also include intermediate rent units in some tables, although other tables indicate these are a relatively low number. Once intermediate rent is removed, the local authority difference is less than 100 units, while the private register providers difference is of 1,430.

Table 4: Comparison of net supply of housing for social rent against changes in stock reported by the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH), 2024-25

Provider	RSH stock changes, all PRPs (including intermediate rent), all local authorities (including intermediate rent) [footnote 3]	RSH stock changes, large PRPs (excluding intermediate rent), HRA local authorities (excluding intermediate rent) [footnote 8]	MHCLG net supply estimate, large PRPs (excluding intermediate rent), HRA local authorities (excluding intermediate rent)
Local authorities	-6,911	-3,938	-4,022
Private Registered Providers	+2,864	+1,618	+188
Total	-4,047	-2,320	-3,834

For affordable rent, both measures show a net increase. Our estimate shows a net increase of 25,628, compared to 28,680 from the Regulator of Social Housing’s data after adjusting for differences in coverage, as shown in the table below. The difference in local authority owned affordable rent net supply between our model and the equivalent figures taken from the Regulator of Social Housing’s data after adjusting is in large part due to temporary accommodation units (see above).

Table 5: Comparison of net supply of housing for affordable rent against changes in stock reported by the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH), 2024-25

Provider	RSH stock changes, all PRPs, all local authorities [footnote 3]	RSH stock changes, large PRPs, HRA local authorities [footnote 8]	MHCLG net supply estimate, large PRPs, HRA local authorities
Local authorities	+4,734	+6,322	+4,166
Private Registered Providers	+23,362	+22,358	+21,462
Total	+28,096	+28,680	+25,628

As these are experimental statistics, we are particularly keen to receive feedback via housing.statistics@communities.gov.uk on whether readers find them relevant, valuable, or whether there are any other comments.

9. Related statistics

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is part of a cross-government working group, including devolved administrations and the Office for National Statistics, working to improve the trustworthiness, quality and value of housing and planning statistics across the UK. This working group has published an action plan to make the planned improvements on house building statistics clear and transparent to users. Details of this work and how you can provide feedback are available via the Government Statistical Service website.

9.1 Social Housing Sales and Demolitions (this release)

• Source: MHCLG

• Annual estimates of sales for social housing stock in England. Characteristics for PRP sales are also shown. Annual - usually published in December/January

• Data Sources:

  • The Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS) form administered by MHCLG

  • The Pooling of Housing Capital Receipts return administered by MHCLG

  • The Statistical Data Return (SDR) from the RSH

  • The COntinuous REcording (CORE) data collection run by MHCLG

  • The Investment Management System (IMS) administration system run by the HE

  • Greater London Affordable Housing Statistics from the GLA.

• These figures provide an overview of all sales of social housing stock in England. Shared ownership sales are not counted as they are treated as supply and not the sale of existing stock.

• These figures provide characteristics for PRP sales that have been recorded in CORE sales.

9.2 Quarterly Right to Buy Management Information

• Source: MHCLG

• Quarterly estimates of Local Authority Right to Buy

• Data provided directly by local authorities

• ‘Leading indicator’ for the Right to Buy policy.

• Figures provided are Local Authority Right to Buy sales, the associated receipts. The starts on site and acquisitions of the delivered replacements.

9.3 Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot Management Information

• Annual

• Published in February 2024

• Data provided directly by Registered Providers

• Update on the progress of homes sold and replacements under the Voluntary Right to Buy (VRTB) Midlands pilot, which was launched in August 2018

9.4 Right to Buy Sales and Replacements

• Annual audited figures on Right to Buy Sales and Replacement of stock sold

• Published in August 2024

• Data provided directly by local authorities

• Figures provided are Local Authority Right to Buy sales, the associated receipts, as well as the starts on site and acquisitions of the delivered replacements.

9.5 Social Housing Lettings

• Source: MHCLG

• Annual estimates of lettings for social housing

• Last published November 2025

• Sources:

• The COntinuous REcording (CORE) data collection run by MHCLG .

• The Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS) form administered by MHCLG .

• These figures provide an overview of all lettings of social housing stock in England.

9.6 Affordable Housing Supply

• Source: MHCLG

• Overall affordable housing supply (new build and acquisitions )

• Annual, usually published in November

• Sourced from Homes England and Greater London Authority data which is published every six months combined with and Local Authority Housing Statistics Data

• Provides the most complete estimate of affordable housing supply. Affordable housing figures are a subset of total housing supply.

9.7 Local Authority Housing Statistics

• Source: MHCLG

• Stock and condition of Local Authority owned housing, including information on rents and waiting lists

• Annual

• No longer has a dedicated bulletin, the data is published between November and February

• Data provided directly by local authorities Information on the stock, condition and changes to local authority owned properties

• Different sections published usually between November and January.

9.8 Statistical Data Return

• Source: RSH

• Stock and condition of Private Registered Provider owned housing

• Annual

• Data provided directly by Private Registered Provider to the Regulator of Social Housing Information on the stock, condition and changes to Private Registered Provider owned properties. Local Authority Data Return Stock, rents and condition of Local Authority owned housing Annual Data provided directly by Local Authorities to the Regulator of Social Housing

9.9 Housing supply: indicators of new supply statistics

• Source: MHCLG

• Quarterly estimates of new build starts and completions

• Sourced from building control officers at:

• National House Building Council

• Local Authorities

• Approved Inspectors

• This is a ‘leading indicator’ of house building, available soon (less than 2 months) after each quarter’s end

9.10 Housing supply; net additional dwellings

• Source: MHCLG

• Total housing supply that comprises all new build, conversions , change of use, other gains/losses and demolitions

• Annual, usually published in November

• Comes from local authorities outside London (Housing Flows Reconciliation Return) and for London boroughs is provided by Greater London Authority (London Development Database)

• Provides an accurate assessment of annual change in all housing stock and is the most comprehensive estimate of supply.

9.11 Dwelling Stock estimates

• Source: MHCLG

• Total housing stock, split by tenure

• Annual

• Usually published in May

• Overall change in stock from Net Additional Dwellings

• Tenure information provided directly from Local Authorities and Housing Associations.

• Provides an accurate assessment of the total size of the housing stock and how it is split by tenure

10. Devolved administration statistics

10.1 Wales

The Welsh Government publishes information on social housing sales, which does include information on Right to Buy sales. On 26 January 2019 ‘Right to Buy’ was repealed for all council and housing association tenants.

10.2 Scotland

The Scottish Government publishes information on social housing sales, however, from 1 August 2016 the ‘Right to Buy’ has been repealed for all council and housing association tenants.

10.3 Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland social tenants have the right to a statutory house sale, which is similar to a “Right to Buy”, with data published online.

11. User engagement

Users are encouraged to provide feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet user needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical release are welcomed and encouraged. Responses should be sent to housing.statistics@communities.gov.uk.

The department has published an engagement strategy to meet the needs of statistics users.

1. The latest forms are available online. Older forms are available upon request from housing.statistics@communities.gov.uk. ↩

2. Calculated by using Private registered providers stock and rents in England - Summary (key facts), Table 1.4 of the Regulator of Social Housing’s ‘Registered provider social housing stock and rents in England’ collection, Local Authority Data Return and Local Authority Data Return additional tables. ↩

3. Available in Registered providers additional tables, Table 1.4. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. The stock balance sheet only covers private registered providers owning at least 1,000 social housing units who are registered on 31 March each year. This means that stock flow data for smaller providers, or those who have developed within year but subsequently deregistered, will not be captured. Additionally, as providers only report activities which they have undertaken, units transferred into a provider may include development activity carried out by precursor bodies prior to a merger (e.g. Provider A develops 200 units prior to merging with into Provider B and transferring all of its stock. Provider B does not record this as development activity because it did not carry out the work and the 200 units would be recorded under the total units transferred into it). Units developed by subsidiaries or third parties that have ownership moved to a large private registered provider may also sometimes be recorded as something other than new build activity depending on the legal form the change of ownership took. ↩ ↩²

5. From 2024–25, SDR column headers changed to provide a more detailed breakdown: acquisitions are now split into five explicit categories (from PRP in same group, from unregistered entity in same group, from another PRP excluding same group, from Local Authority RP, and from other sources). The methodology was adjusted for 2024-25 to reflect this and therefore, comparisons across years should be made with caution, as 2022-23 and 2023-24 do not include the adjustment. ↩ ↩²

6. See Table 3.1c of the Statistical Data Return additional tables. ↩ ↩²

7. Calculated by dividing local authority rental stock in the stock information sheet of the Local Authority Data Return for those local authorities with a Housing Revenue Account by the total rental stock owned by local authorities (available in Table 1.1 of the Local Authority Data Return additional tables). ↩ ↩²

8. Sources: Housing Revenue Account (HRA) local authority social housing for rent identified using Local Authority Data Return data release, stock information sheet and Section A of the Local Authority Housing Statistics. Large Private Registered Provider (PRP) social housing for rent calculated using the Registered providers additional tables, Table 1.4, excluding care homes. ↩ ↩² ↩³