In England, 4,099 homes were sold to generate funds for housing providers to reinvest in new stock and reshape their portfolios to meet changing demand. 

The number of social homes sold to the private sector 

Saving Stream believes this news represents an exciting opportunity for developers and property investors as they can look to add value to a property.

“Local authority sales of housing to the private sector are overwhelmingly positive,” said Liam Brooke, co-founder of Saving Stream.

“Purchasing former social housing is a great opportunity for developers to add value to properties and private tenants get access to a greater variety of better-quality housing.”

These figures do not include homes sold by local authorities or social housing providers under Right to Buy.

However, Liam said that smaller developers were facing problems accessing funds to secure these properties for improvement as credit lines have been cut by banks in recent years, while Brexit has also seen lenders become more cautious.

Liam felt that peer-to-peer funding could help developers find the funding they need to make the purchases.

“These properties can come to market very quickly and so financing decisions require a rapid turnaround.

“Due to slow internal processes, big banks often cannot extend loans in a timely fashion, which is where more nimble peer-to-peer lenders can step in to help.”

“With social housing coming on to the market across the country there are opportunities to increase and improve housing stock in every community.”