§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many council houses have been sold to date since 1979 under right-to-buy legislation; what was the total reduced selling price; what was the total market value of the property sold; and if he will give the figures authority by authority.
§ Sir George YoungFrom April 1979 to March 1984, English local authorities and new towns sold an estimated 575,000 council dwellings which had a market value of350W £9.1 billion, at an aggregate price (net of discount) of £5.8 billion. Of these dwellings, an estimated 389,000 were sold under the right-to-buy provisions; value and price information for these sales is not collected separately.
Numbers of sales by individual local authorities up to December 1983 are in the table placed in the Library following the reply by my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Construction to my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Powley) on 29 March at columns 294–95. Aggregate net selling prices and numbers of sales have been published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy in volumes of "Housing Revenue Account Statistics" for the financial years up to 1982–83, copies are available in the Library. Information on market values for individual authorities could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Following is the available information from new towns:
Sale of Dwellings by New Town Development Corporations July 1979 to March 1984 Number of sales Net selling price Market value £000 £000 Basildon 3,620 40,978 68,782 Central Lancashire 420 5,844 6,534 Milton Keynes 2,136 26,173 31,029 Northampton 1,469 16,509 21,799 Peterborough 1,753 17,765 24,797 Redditch 957 10,031 15,178 Runcorn 1,404 11,056 17,620 Skelmersdale 2,036 13,197 18,964 Telford 1,848 13,187 17,598 Warrington 610 6,952 8,820 Washington 977 9,293 14,067 Source: Quarterly Housing Returns.