Time to Play Catch up On Right to Buy

The Treasury needs to let go of the Right to Buy reins. Councils must be given the freedom to focus on replacing those homes that have been sold. Right to Buy was the Thatcher government’s biggest privatisation. But with nearly two million homes already sold, can the next government at least start to replace the houses lost through future sales? The latest UK Housing Review shows that capital receipts from sales in England now total £42bn since Right to Buy began. It sounds like a lot of money, but at an average of little more than £20,000 per house it’s obvious why replacement has never happened. Indeed, except for a short period under the last government when discounts were reduced and sales slumped, they’ve always exceeded new social house building – and usually by a considerable margin. Read more on the Public Finance website.