Right to Buy Extension Estimated To Cost £12 Billion

People will only be able to buy their home under this scheme if they are eligible and able to. Firstly, they need to have lived in their property for at least three years – 1.4 million households fit this criterion. Secondly, we should only count those who don’t currently have Preserved Right to Buy as they can already buy with a large discount – we estimate there to be around 550,000 households that are already eligible for this leaving 850,000 households eligible for the new proposal. But crucially, they need to be able to afford to buy the home after the discount. Even with the discount, not every household could afford a mortgage – the proportion of tenants varies by region from 15% to 35%. This means that across the country there are 221,000 households that are eligible for the new proposal and able to afford the mortgage. And if all of these households decide to take up the scheme, it would cost £11.6 billion. Indeed, the longer the scheme operates for, the more households become eligible. Read more on the NHF website.