PEOPLE in Herefordshire who bought their old council houses made an average profit of £52,000 when they sold them, new figures show.

Just under a dozen made profits of between £90,000 and £100,000.

Very few made a loss, although one buyer was left out of pocket by more than £45,000 in real terms.

The figures have been revealed in an investigation by the BBC's data unit and are based on analysis of Land Registry records.

The figures show 274 cases in Herefordshire under the government's controversial Right to Buy scheme, where people can purchase their old council house or social housing for a discount.

However, the records are by no means complete, with many instances where the original buying price is missing.

There are 94 instances with full details, which means there are probably three times as many people who have made these sorts of substantial profits.

One person made a profit of £120,000 when they bought their home for £50,000 in 2001 and then sold it for £170,000 just under nine years later in 2010. When inflation is taken into account, the real terms profit was £105,000.

It equates to making £37 profit a day.

The highest real terms profit was £109,000 on a house bought for £14,835 in 2002 and sold for £127,000 in 2009.

The best profit per day was £824 for someone who bought a house for £9,900 back in 2004 and sold it for £75,000 just 79 days later.

Biggest loss, in real terms after inflation, was £45,325 on a house bought for a whopping £382,500 in 2008 and sold for £400,000 five years later.

On average, buyers made a profit of £52,059, or £36 a day, after holding on to their home for just under seven years and eight months.

That compares with £19 a day for the West Midlands but £43 a day for England and Wales.

Right to Buy has been one of the most most divisive housing policies of the past 40 years and the figures by the BBC show sales of former council homes have made a total profit of £6.4 billion.

Critics say that is effectively taxpayers' money and the policy has distorted the housing market and led to a big drop in social housing because homes have not been replaced.

Supporters say it has helped more than two million people realise their dream of home ownership and has helped to produce more 'mixed tenure' housing estates which produce stronger communities.