The pattern of council house sales in one housing authority, the City of Aberdeen, was monitored over a two year period since the `Right to Buy' legislation came into force . The pattern of sales was variable, both spatially and between house types. Semi-detached and terraced properties sold at a greater rate than flatted properties, and estates with higher socio-economic status and a higher popularity rating experienced a greater level of sales . This suggests that over the medium to long term, a continued policy of unrestricted sales will have a deleterious effect on the desirability of the remaining public sector stock and will increase the pressures towards a residualisation of public sector housing .

No abstract

British housing policy has, since 1979, been dominated by a shift from collectivist to market-oriented strategies. The single most important element of this policy shift has been the sale of public-sector dwellings to sitting tenants. The patterns of such sales have been well documented, but the longer-term effects on the broader housing market are less well understood. This paper is a report of the results of a research project into the resale by purchasing tenants of Scottish Special Housing Association dwellings over the period 1979–90. The findings are placed in the broader context of the general government housing policy aimed at widening the access to owner occupation for lower-income households. The authors conclude that the long-term impact of the sale of public-sector dwellings is more likely to widen choice for existing owners rather than to increase access to owner occupation.

The Conservative victory in the 1979 General Election marked a major turning point in British housing policy and a significant change in the fortunes of public sector housing. The Conservatives were committed to an expansion of individualistic and private provision, and a retreat from collectivist provision, over

It has been argued that council house sales will contribute towards a more general process of residualization of public sector housing. Empirical evidence is presented in this context derived from surveys of purchasers and non-purchasers of council dwellings in the city of Aberdeen. This evidence confirms that purchasers and non-purchasers exhibit different socio-economic characteristics and after only four years of the Right to Buy legislation significant numbers of households in social classes I, II and III have left the public sector via the mechanism of sales. The small number of sales relative to the stock as a whole, however, has meant that the overall contribution of sales towards residualization has been small. This evidence from Aberdeen is compared to evidence from elsewhere and related to the varying pattern of sales across the country as a whole.