Council Houses: Call For Sale To Raise £4.5bn

Council Houses: Call For Sale To Raise £4.5bn

Councils should sell off their expensive social housing to fund building cheaper homes, according to an influential think tank.

The Policy Exchange says putting the highest-value properties on the market could raise £4.5bn a year, allowing 170,000 affordable homes to be built.
The organisation, set up by Conservative MP Nick Boles who is a key ally of Prime Minister David Cameron, claims the move could reduce the housing waiting list by up to 600,000 in five years.
Its report, called Ending Expensive Social Tenancies, says properties worth more than the average house price for an area make up one in five of the social housing stock.
The 816,000 homes have a total value of £159bn, £71.9bn of which is in London. Around 3.5% of the buildings become vacant each year and could be sold off to raise the £4.5bn.
This money should be set aside to build extra homes, the report suggests, recommending that spending floors are introduced to ensure standards.
Alex Morton, who wrote the report, said: "Expensive social housing is costly, ....