Right-to-buy sales have surged in north-east England as new government figures reveal that half of England’s council homes have been sold off or transferred in the past two decades.
In Middlesbrough, right-to-buy applications have risen 70% since March, in Darlington they have risen 50% over the same period, and in Derwentside applications have almost doubled, to 300.

Tony Cooke, Derwentside head of strategic resources, urged the government to give a firm statement on its intentions for the right-to-buy scheme. “Applications are very high because people are unclear what the government plans to do,” he said.

Latest figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister show councils lost 2.4 million homes, 47% of their total stock, through right to buy, transfers and other sales over the last 20 years. Right-to-buy sales account for 1.5 million of these homes – 30% of the total stock.

The figures do not include this year’s surge in right-to-buy sales.

The right to buy has taken 30% of all council homes during the past 20 years

Future urban transfers will accelerate the losses, the Local Government Association predicts. Programme manager Gwyneth Taylor said in 10 years’ time housing associations, which currently have 1.8 million homes, will dominate.

Taylor echoed Tony Cooke’s belief that the government must address the right to buy issue soon: “The government is moving towards a single social housing tenure. We have rent restructuring and a single inspectorate.”