The capital’s council housing stock has shrunk by almost 6% over the past decade due to homes sold under Right to Buy.
Research from estate agency Benham and Reeves found 23,061 homes have been sold under the Right to Buy scheme since 2012-13, equating to 5.6% of total local authority-owned housing.
The highest number of council-owned homes have been sold in Barking & Dagenham, where Right to Buy sales total 9.8% of its stock over the last decade.
In the City of London, while just 62 homes have sold via Right to Buy, this figure accounts for 14.4% of all council homes in the square mile.
The sales have a total market value of £3.4bn.
Southwark has reported the highest total value of homes sold since 2012 at £255m, ahead of Greenwich on £223m and Barking & Dagenham on £222m.
Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, said social housing stock had been ‘severely reduced’ over the past 10 years.
London Councils’ executive member for housing Darren Rodwell said much of the money raised from council house sales goes back to the Treasury.
He added: 'While we support efforts to boost home ownership among low-income households, boroughs also have major concerns about losing much-needed council housing stock and not having the resources required to build replacements.'
This article originally appeared in The MJ (£).
