º£½ÇÊÓƵ

Right to Buy sales cooled in the West Midlands in 2014/15 after large rises in each of the previous four years.

According to statistics released by the Department for Communities and Local Government, local authorities in the area sold off 1,197 social homes in the 2014/15 financial year.

This is a decrease of 7.4 per cent compared to the 1,293 homes sold off in the 2013/14 financial year and is contrary to the nine per cent increase across England as a whole.

It follows four consecutive years of large increases in Right to Buy sales in the West Midlands with the 264 homes sold in 2009/10 rising to 327 in 2010/11, 352 in 2011/12, 757 in 2012/13 and then to 1,293 in 2013/14.

Within the West Midlands, Solihull was the only area to observe a rise in Right to Buy sales while two local authorities - Coventry and Walsall - recorded no sales at all.

Dudley recorded the biggest drop - down by 13.9 per cent from 202 in 2013/14 to 174 in 2014/15.

Across the whole of England, 12,304 homes were sold off under the Right to Buy scheme in 2014/15, a 9.3 per cent increase compared to the 11,261 sold off in 2013/14.

This is the third consecutive year of increases under the scheme as local authorities attempt to make up for cuts to their budgets by selling off their housing stock.