15 November 2012 | By Gavriel Hollander, Inside Housing

The government’s much-vaunted push on right to buy sales has failed to significantly increase the number of homes sold, according to new figures released today.

According to data released by the Communities and Local Government department, nearly 1,500 local authority homes were sold in the six months since the coalition increased the discounts available to council tenants who wanted to buy their homes in April.

At the current rate, that would mean there will be around 3,000 sales in 2012/13.

Other CLG figures, also released today, show that there were 3,720 right to buy sales in 2011/12, of which 2,610 were sold by local authorities.

This year’s figures do not include sales by registered providers under the preserved right to buy. But, at the current rate, local authority sales would be just 14 per cent up on 2011/12 despite discounts more than tripling in some areas and the government spending £660,000 on a campaign to promote the policy.

There are signs that sales are increasing, with more than 1,000 homes sold in the second quarter of the year compared to just 443 in the first quarter.