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Housing Statistics for Scotland - Sales of Social Sector Housing

Aviemore housing

Sales of Social Sector Housing

  • The introduction of right to buy legislation in 1979 had a substantial impact on the profile of Scottish housing, and the scale and nature of these changes are shown in the 2006 report to the Scottish Parliament: The right to buy in Scotland: pulling together the evidence
  • Since then, nearly half a million sales of public sector stock have taken place.
  • The annual rate of sales to sitting tenants peaked at just under 40,000 in 1989, at the height of the housing boom. It then fell rapidly in the early 1990s as the housing market crashed, settling at around 15,000 per year from the mid 1990s onwards.
  • Legislation introduced as part of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 then resulted in significant changes in right to buy terms for new tenants from 2002.
  • Sales of public authority dwellings fell by 46% in 2008-9 from 6,800 to 3,700. This continues the declining trend in sales observed over recent years, following a small increase prior to the introduction of the modernised Right to Buy, which came into effect on 30 September 2002.
  • The proportion of sales under modernised terms has increased steadily since the introduction of modernised rights, and rose more sharply in the latest year, from 5% of sales in 2007-8 to 8% in 2008-9. This rise is caused by falling numbers of sales under the old terms, rather than by any increase in modernised terms sales, which have remained steady at around 350 per year for the last four years.
  • In 2008, the mean market value of property sold through Right to Buy was £83,000, and the selling price £37,000, giving an average discount of 56%.

Sales Tables

The sales tables in this section are based largely on two sources, which differ in terms of coverage, so users should ensure that they read the footnotes to the sales tables:

  • The SALES1 summary return collects information on applications for and sales of local authority housing. It covers all sales, not just sales to sitting tenants. Sales figures in local authorities that have transferred their housing stock to housing associations are excluded from the local authority figures.
  • The SALES3 case based return collects information on sales to sitting tenants only. This includes right to buy sales, rent to mortgage sales and voluntary sales. To create a consistent time series of right to buy sales, sales figures in local authorities that have transferred their housing stock to housing associations are included in the figures.


Tables

Applications and sales summary (from SALES1 summary return combined with housing association sales)

  • National summary tables of applications for and sales of social housing.

Applications and sales (LA housing only) (from SALES1 summary return)

  • Quarterly, financial year and calendar year time series of applications by sitting tenants and sales to sitting tenants by local authority area, 1998 to current. Applications and sales in local authorities that have transferred their housing stock to housing associations are excluded from these tables.

Sales to sitting tenants (from SALES3 individual return)

  • National sales to sitting tenants by dwelling type, 1979 to current
  • Local authority area time series of sales to sitting tenants, 1979 to current
  • Further information about sales to sitting tenants - mean market value, selling price and discount, by local authority area, 1979 to current

Components of sales to sitting tenants (from SALES3 individual return)

  • Financial and calendar year time series of the number of right to buy (old terms) sales, right to buy (modernised terms) sales, rent to mortgage sales and voluntary sales

Page updated: Thursday, August 27, 2009