The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has called on the government to suspend council tenants’ right to buy their homes after new figures showed a slump in the number of new local authority homes being built to replace those being sold off.

Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) showed 2,645 homes were sold by local councils across England in October to December last year.

But the number of replacement council homes, either started or acquired, during the same period was 1,038, a third lower than the figure for the same quarter the previous year.