Essex properties earmarked to become affordable homes are sold privately instead
Former ministry of defence homes that were to have become affordable housing have instead been sold on the open market for a profit of thousands of pounds.

Private agent Annington Homes – which took over the MoD’s surplus housing stock after a £1.6bn deal in 1996 – had originally intended to sell the homes to Hastoe Housing Association.

The move is at odds with the government’s recent attempts to make more public land available for development as low-cost housing.

The £2.6m deal would have provided 25 homes for shared ownership and key-worker housing at Carver Barracks in Saffron Walden, a high-demand area of Essex. Hastoe had all but completed negotiations with Annington in February. But in May, Annington decided to sell the homes on the open market for an undisclosed profit believed to run to thousands of pounds. The firm shares the profit from its sales with the Treasury, which has received more than £55m from previous deals.

Brian Carroll, head of development at Hastoe, said: “They decided they’d be better off holding onto the houses and letting them go as the market rose, so they’d make a bigger profit. They weren’t even interested in us buying at a higher price.”

The Housing Corporation was keen to fund the scheme. Investment manager Jackie Rose said £1.2m of provisional grant had been approved.

A spokesman for Annington Homes said it was in the best interests of the government to maximise profits. He said: “Annington will inevitably say no to unrealistically low offers.”

A spokeswoman for the Defence Housing Executive, which oversees the MoD’s homes, said: “It is our practice to seek to sell to housing associations at open market value, where appropriate.”

Source

Housing Today