Call for councils to sell 'expensive' social houses

Councils are being urged to sell off their most expensive houses and reinvest the money in building cheaper homes in a new report by the Policy Exchange think tank.

The report claims that selling top homes when they become vacant would raise £4.5bn a year, enough to build 80,000 to 170,000 new social homes, and provide building jobs. But the National Housing Federation is warning that it could lead to a form of social cleansing.

Alex Morton, Head of Housing at Policy Exchange and the author of the report, says more than "one in five social houses is worth more than the regional average".