Fall in number of new homes being built across Scotland this past year
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
There were 21,952 all-sector new build homes completed in Scotland in the year to end September 2023, according to latest figures.
This is a fall of six per cent (1,355 homes) on the 23,307 completions in the previous year.
Decreases were seen in private-led new build completions (three per cent or 491 homes) and local authority new builds by 44 per cent (or 1,241 homes) whilst housing association new build completions increased (nine per cent or 377 homes).
Meanwhile the number of new build homes started across all sectors fell by 24 per cent (5,260 homes), with 16,274 starts in the year to end September 2023.
This was down from 21,534 starts in the previous year to end September 2022, and the lowest annual figure to end September since 2014. Private-led new build starts dropped by 19 per cent (3,017 homes), housing association new build starts decreased by 34 per cent (1,099 homes) and local authority new build starts tumbled by half (1,144 homes).
Separate quarterly statistics on the Affordable Housing Supply programme show there were a total of 2,351 affordable homes completed in the latest quarter July to September 2023.
This brings the total number of affordable homes completed in the 12 months to end September 2023 to 10,582, an increase of nine per cent (877 homes) on the 9,705 homes completed in the previous year, and the highest annual year to date completions figure since the start of the series in 2000.
There was a decrease in the number of affordable homes completed for social rent by two per cent (196 homes) whilst increases in other affordable rent by 47 per cent (481 homes), and affordable home ownership completions by 80 per cent (592 homes).
Meanwhile there were 1,153 affordable homes approved in the latest quarter July to September 2023, which brings the total number of affordable homes approved in the 12 months to end September 2023 to 6,178, a decrease of 14 per cent (981 homes) on the 7,159 homes approved in the previous year, and the lowest annual figure to end September since 2013.
There were falls in the latest year to end September 2023 in the number of approvals for social rent (by 18 per cent or 985 homes) and for other affordable rent (by 37 per cent or 320 homes), although approvals for affordable home ownership increased by 46 per cent (324 homes).
There were 1,341 affordable homes started in the latest quarter July to September 2023 which brings the total number of affordable homes started in the 12 months to end September 2023 to 6,302.
This was a fall of 24 per cent (1,996 homes) on the 8,298 started in the previous year, and the lowest annual figure to end September since 2015.
There was a decrease in the latest year to end September 2023 in the number of starts for social rent (by 29 per cent or 1,947 homes) and other affordable rent (by 40 per cent or 377 homes), although affordable home ownership increased (by 45 per cent or 328 homes).
These statistics are used to inform progress against Scottish Government affordable housing delivery targets.
The ambition is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70 per cent will be for social rent and 10 per cent will be in remote, rural and island communities.
There has been a total of 15,765 affordable homes completed between 23 March 2022 and 30 September 2023 towards the target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, consisting of 12,188 (77 per cent) homes for social rent, 1,917 (12 per cent) for affordable rent, and 1,660 (11per cent) for affordable home ownership.
