Councils in England should sell their multi-million pound vacant houses and reinvest in more new developments, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has said.

He said the sale of just one high-value council house could help fund more affordable house building, increase supply and reduce social housing waiting lists.

Annual values list

From April, councils will be required to publish the most recent valuation of their social housing stock annually to ensure it is being put to best use.

The information will be published by postcode, listing how much the properties are worth, how many are occupied and how many are standing empty.

The move will give people the information they need to ask questions of how their council is managing stock and how selling more expensive properties could provide the funds for councils to build more homes and reduce waiting times.

On the regular housing market, there was a record 33 sales of homes worth at least £1 million every day during the first half of this year.

Empty homes

Councils could also sell their higher-value empty properties, releasing more money for house building without affecting existing tenants’ rights.

With the numbers of empty homes down by 160,000 since the end of 2009 to a 10-year low, this could reduce the numbers of empty properties even further.

Southwark Council was recently able to sell off one of its homes for £3 million, helping to fund the building of 20 new properties across the borough.

Mr Pickles said that councils are sitting on millions of pounds that could be put to far better use and get them building elsewhere in the area.

Instead of holding that money as equity in expensive empty properties, the councils should sell up those vacant buildings and reinvest the money to get the country building.

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