Housebuilding plummets by nearly 4,000 in a year, figures show

Housebuilding in Scotland has plummeted, figures have shown, with nearly 4,000 fewer homes in supply in 2023-24 compared to the year before.

Some 20,364 homes were supplied that year, compared to 24,348 in 2022-23 – a decrease of 16.4%, or 3,984 homes.

Of these, 97.9% were new builds, 1.8% were conversions, and 0.3% were renovations.

As of March 31 2024, there were 177,264 applications on council or common housing register housing lists.

The figure represents a 1.2% rise from the year before, although Scots can make multiple applications across different local authorities.

Meanwhile, the number of social homes increased by 6,102 last year, reaching 633,030 – up from 626,928 the previous year. There were 325,477 local authority dwellings and 307,553 housing association dwellings recorded.

The number of council lettings increased by 7% in 2023-24 to 25,423. A total of 49% of these were made to homeless households, 26% to those on housing waiting lists, while 21% were transfers between existing tenants. Three per cent were classified as “other”.

The number of eviction notices to council tenants jumped 10.2% over the same time to 16,640, although the figure is still 32.2% lower than pre-pandemic levels. A total of 91% of these were due to rent arrears, a spike from the 85% figure recorded in 2022-23.

Overall, there were 2.7 million estimated dwellings in Scotland, 60% of which were owner-occupied, 23% were social rented properties, 13.2% were privately rented, and 3.7% were vacant or second homes.

Reacting to the figures, housing minister Paul McLennan said he recognised “these are exceptionally challenging times”.

“However,” he said, “it is encouraging that affordable housing starts and approvals have increased in the year to December 2024, and we will continue to work with partners to increase these levels even further through our £768 million investment this year, an increase of £200 million when compared to last financial year.

“Providing everyone in Scotland with the right to a warm, safe and affordable home is essential to our key priority of eradicating child poverty.”

He said the Scottish Government had a “strong track record” on affordable housing, including the delivery of 136,000 homes between 2007 and 2024, with 97,000 of those for social rent.

“That’s 47% more per head of population than England and 73% more than Wales as of March 2024,” he said.

“Since we declared a housing emergency last May we have been working at pace with a range of stakeholders across the housing system to take urgent action.

“This has involved working closely with those local authorities who are experiencing the greatest and most sustained homelessness and temporary accommodation pressures.

“We are also engaging the expertise of the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board and Housing Investment Task Force to support the response.

“Throughout the development of the Housing (Scotland) Bill we have made sure to strike the appropriate balance between protecting tenants and providing incentives for continued investment in the private rented sector through measures such as rent control areas.”