“As a council, we have said we intended to build 135 affordable family houses over the next three years and this will go towards meeting that target,” he said.

“That will be the first time for 20 years the council in Dundee has been able to build new houses.”

Mr Regan said commercial confidentiality prevented him from saying how much the council paid for the houses, but he pointed out it came from money that would have been spent anyway on building new homes.

Although there are no immediate plans to buy more houses, the convener said the council would consider it if a similar opportunity presented itself.

“I realise it might seem to people that we must have more houses than we need because of the programme of demolitions we have been pursuing for several years,” Mr Regan said.

“But it is a question of having the right type of housing — the sort people want. We have a shortage of large-sized family homes and these are what we are planning to build.”

Mr Regan said he was not claiming Dundee was the first council to have opted to buy houses from a developer, but he was not aware of any others in Scotland.

“The Scottish Government finance minister, John Swinney, described it as an innovative approach when he was in Dundee recently and felt it would also help out the hard-pressed construction industry.”

The 15 houses the council has bought will not be sold on; they are intended to be for rent.