Council housing sell-off continues as government fails to replace most homes sold under Right to Buy

Home ownership has fallen since the policy was introduced and flats are ending up in the hands of private landlords, writes Jon Stone

Apartments in a social housing block in east London (Getty/iStock)

Two-thirds of the council homes sold off under Right to Buy are still not being replaced by new social housing despite a promise by the government, official figures show.

Housing charities warned that enough “desperately needed” genuinely affordable housing is simply not being built, with an overall net loss of 17,000 homes this year from social stock.

Since the policy was updated in 2012-13, 85,645 homes have been sold through the policy, but only 28,090 built to replace them, statistics from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show.