Mayor reaffirms housing pledge after sale of £1m homes in Hackney rises 1,700 per cent

Mayor Philip Glanville. Photograph: Hackney Council

Hackney Council has reaffirmed its pledge to help residents afford homes after it was revealed that Hackney has seen the biggest rise in million-pound homes being sold of any borough in England and Wales.

The sale of homes for £1 million or more in Hackney has increased 1,700 per cent in the last decade, from just 15 in 2007 to 270 last year, according to BBC research out today.

There were 1,086 such homes sold in Hackney in those ten years, with the most expensive sold for £3,250,000.

When quizzed about the findings by the Hackney Citizen, a senior council spokesperson called the 1,700 per cent figure an “unwelcome statistic” and provided a statement from the mayor.

Mayor Philip Glanville, a former cabinet member for housing, said: “House prices have risen more in Hackney than anywhere else in the country over the last 20 years, leaving more and more residents struggling to find a genuinely affordable place to rent or get a foot on the housing ladder.

“That’s why, in the absence of any government funding, Hackney is building thousands of new council homes directly for social rent, living rent and shared ownership – as well as some for sale to help pay for them.”

He added: “With 13,000 families on our housing waiting list and private rents and house prices rocketing, we’d like to do so much more, and we’ll continue to campaign for ministers to cut the red tape that restricts the amount we can invest in housebuilding and allow us to build more of the homes we need.”

The council also pointed to the government’s “artificial” cap on how much councils can borrow through their Housing Revenue Account to spend on building council homes for sale.