Government says 10,000 people on property ladder under Right to Buy

Over 10,000 people have taken their first step on the property ladder under the reinvigorated Right to Buy scheme, according to new government figures released on Thursday 10 October.

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said this increase in sales shows both the rising demand from tenants to become homeowners and, crucially, will lead to more affordable homes being built.

According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, in the year to April 2013, 8,398 council and housing association tenants took up their Right to Buy - more than double the sales seen in the previous year and the highest level since 2007.

These, on top of the 2,149 Right to Buy sales seen in the first quarter of this year, take the total sales to date to over 10,000.

The Department says this also takes the total numbers of households supported into home ownership through government-backed schemes to nearly 40,000 - further proof that wherever people are in the market, there is help on hand for aspiring homeowners.

Prime Minister David Cameron said:

"The success of Right to Buy shows how the new reinvigorated scheme is opening up the prospect of home ownership to even more people across the country.

"With over 10,000 people taking up the opportunity to buy their council home this year, the demand to make that step onto the housing ladder is clear.

"What is more, we’re ploughing the additional money from Right to Buy sales straight back into building more affordable homes.

"Whether it’s through Right to Buy, support with mortgages or getting more houses built, we are helping more and more hardworking people to buy somewhere to live and get on in life."

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said:

"For years the Right to Buy was allowed to wither on the vine, with ever-decreasing discounts leaving the prospect of home ownership out of reach for far too many social tenants.

"But our reinvigorated scheme has changed that, with increased discounts helping more than 10,000 new homeowners onto the property ladder.

"And because we’ve committed to using the additional money raised towards funding new affordable homes for rent, we’re also getting Britain building and will soon have the fastest rate of affordable housebuilding for two decades."