The maximum discount for a house will increase from 60% to 70% of its value, and the £75,000 cap will start increasing in line with the consumer price index rate of inflation. A £100 million fund will improve access to mortgage finance, and new Right to Buy agents will guide people through the buying process.
Revenue from additional sales will be ploughed back into delivering new affordable homes for rent, which will help drive up the rate of housebuilding across the country.
Mr Pickles said the changes showed the government’s rock solid support for aspiration, and would ensure Right to Buy becomes a realistic New Year’s resolution for thousands of social tenants across the country.
The Right to Buy gives something back to families who worked hard, paid their rent and played by the rules. It allows them to do up their home, change their front door, improve their garden - without getting permission from the council.
It gives people a sense of pride and ownership not just in their home, but in their street and neighbourhood, helping to build strong families and stable mixed communities.
Since 2011 the government has helped almost 50,000 households onto the housing ladder - over 13,400 social tenants through the Right to Buy and over 36,000 through Help to Buy and earlier schemes.
Mr Pickles said it was clear evidence that wherever people are in the housing market, there is help on hand for hard-working, aspiring homeowners.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said:
"For years the Right to Buy was slowly strangled, with a miserly cap on discounts killing the prospect of home ownership for most social tenants.
"We don’t think governments should be in the business of vetoing aspiration. That’s why we reinvigorated the Right Buy. It’s all part of our long-term economic plan to make Britain a country on the rise, where hard working people can be rewarded with the security and peace of mind that comes from owning their own home.
"Eighteen months later and with over 13,400 hard-working tenants taking up the offer, it’s clear the public shares our view. But we want to go further, that’s why we will soon be increasing the maximum percentage discount for houses, and ensuring that the cash cap rises with inflation, so more social tenants can make Right to Buy their New Year’s resolution for 2014.
"We’ll also continue to plough the cash from additional sales back into delivering new affordable homes for rent, which will help drive up the rate of housebuilding across the country."
Emma Reynolds MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister, said:
"The Tory-led Government has failed to build the homes our country needs. Housebuilding is at its lowest peacetime level since the 1920s, contributing to the cost-of-living crisis families face.
"David Cameron has also broken his promise to replace every home sold through right to buy with another built. Only one home has been built for every seven homes sold.
"Expanding home ownership means building more homes. That is why Labour has committed to build 200,000 houses a year by 2020."
