Waverley wants to buy 48 affordable homes at Waverley Lane and Wrecclesham Hill, Farnham, for £14.45m: 37 to rent, 11 shared ownership. Vote on 6 October.
Waverley Borough Council wants to buy 48 new affordable homes on two Farnham building sites, at a total cost of £14,454,118. Its Executive will be asked to back the purchase on Tuesday 6 October, and full Council would make the final decision on 10 November.
The homes are the affordable share that the developers had to provide under their planning permissions. Instead of a housing association taking them on, the council would own and let them itself.
The two sites
The council report names them as:
- “Waverley Gardens”, land at Waverley Lane: 40 homes, part of a Miller Homes development
- “Farnham Oaks”, land south of 7 Wrecclesham Hill: 8 homes, part of a Nicholas King Homes development
Both developers approached the council and invited it to bid. The council submitted expressions of interest, and both were accepted, subject to approvals and contracts.
The report lists the wards affected as Farnham Bourne and Farnham Rowledge.
Who the homes would be for
Of the 48 homes, 37 would be let and 11 sold as shared ownership:
- Waverley Gardens: 32 homes for social rent and 8 for shared ownership
- Farnham Oaks: 5 homes at Waverley Affordable Rent and 3 for shared ownership
The rented homes would join the council’s housing stock and be let through its allocations system. The 11 shared ownership homes would be sold on the open market to eligible buyers, with the council keeping the freehold.
The money
The report asks full Council to approve a total budget of £14,454,118. That works out at just over £301,000 a home across the 48, though the budget covers the whole acquisition and its breakdown is not public.
The business cases, the valuations and the viability appraisal are all in exempt annexes. The report says they could be published once the homes are finished and handed over.
What the report does say:
- the purchase would be paid for through Housing Revenue Account borrowing and capital receipts
- an independent RICS valuation was commissioned, by Clarke Gammon
- Haverly Consulting reviewed the business cases independently
- the homes are expected to reach an energy rating of EPC A, and the contracts would require it
It also lists the risks. Rents and running costs could differ from the assumptions. Tenants could use the Right to Buy before the borrowing is repaid. A developer could go into administration before the homes are finished. The shared ownership homes might sell for less than assumed.
Why Farnham
One line in the report explains why the council is going after these homes. “The Council does not currently have any affordable housing developments within its own delivery programme in Farnham, despite there being an identified need for affordable housing in the area.”
If it says no, the report adds, the developers would be likely to sell the homes to another housing provider.
For context, the average Waverley home cost £553,429 in July 2026, on Land Registry’s UK House Price Index. That is a mean average, not a median, and it was down 2.6% on a year earlier. The first-time buyer average was £393,787. Our July house prices report has the full breakdown.
What happens next
- 6 October: the Executive decides whether to recommend the purchase.
- 10 November: full Council decides whether to approve the £14.45m budget.
- After that: the West Surrey Shadow Executive must consent, because the deal is worth more than the £1 million threshold in the government’s direction covering councils being replaced by West Surrey Council in April 2027.
Only then would the council sign land, “golden brick” and build agreements with the two developers, setting out payment, delivery and handover terms.
What it means for you
If you are on Waverley’s housing register, the report says the council has no Farnham schemes in its own affordable housing programme, so these would be the first. The homes would be let through the normal allocations process, not sold.
If you are hoping to buy part of a home, 11 shared ownership homes would come to market across the two sites. No prices or dates have been published.
If you live near Waverley Lane or Wrecclesham Hill, this decision is about who owns and lets the affordable homes, not whether the developments go ahead. The affordable homes were secured through the schemes’ Section 106 planning agreements.
Council homes in Waverley are also the subject of our recent report on the council’s fire doors and water safety backlog.
Sources
- Waverley Borough Council, Acquisition of affordable homes at “Waverley Gardens” and “Farnham Oaks”, Farnham, report to the Executive on 6 October 2026, for the sites, developers, numbers, tenure split, budget, funding, valuers, risks, EPC requirement, timetable and s24 threshold.
- Waverley Borough Council, Executive agenda, 6 October 2026.
- HM Land Registry, UK House Price Index for Waverley, July 2026, for the average price, the annual change and the first-time buyer average.
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