20,000 new homes built in Scotland in 12 months to September 30 2021

JUST over 20,000 new homes were built in Scotland (across all sectors, not least private and social) during the 12 months up to the end of September last year.

The exact figure of 20,056 represented a 26 per cent (4,174 homes) increase on the previous 12 months (up to the end of September 2020), which, of course, was ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. But it also represented a nine per cent (1,963 homes) decrease on the 12 months leading up to the end of September 2019.

Says the Scottish Government, in an announcement, here, the private sector accounted for 25 per cent (2,894 homes) of the new-build homes completions upto the end of September last year, with local authority completions accounting for 77 per cent or 865 homes), and housing association completions (13 per cent or 415 homes).

Among other findings:

• The number of new-build homes started across all sectors also increased in the year to end September 2021, with 21,666 starts, up 13 per cent (2,476 homes) on the 19,190 starts in the previous year. Despite this increase, the latest annual figure is 14 per cent (3,522 homes) below the 25,188 homes completed in the pre-pandemic year to end September 2019.

• In the latest year to the end of September 2021, increases were seen across private-led starts (37 per cent or 4,478 homes) and local authority starts (31 per cent or 450 homes), whilst housing association approvals fell by 44 per cent or 2,452 homes).

• More up-to-date figures published as part of the UK House Price Index show a total of 11,663 private new-build sales transactions in Scotland in the 12 months to the end of January 2022. This is an increase of 38 per cent (3,202 transactions) on the 8,461 transactions recorded in the previous year to the end of January last year.

• Latest social sector new housebuilding figures show an increase of 42 per cent (1,785 homes) to 6,025 completions in the year to the end of December last year, which compares to 4,240 completions in the previous year. Starts, however, fell by 17 per cent (1,013 homes) to 5,007 in the year to the of December last year, down from 6,020 starts in the previous year.

• Affordable Housing Supply Programme statistics reflect the broader supply of affordable homes for social rent, affordable rent and affordable home ownership, and include off the shelf purchases and rehabilitations as well as new-builds.

• The 3,346 affordable homes completed in the latest quarter, January to March 2022, brings the total number of affordable homes completed in the 12 months to the end of March this year, to 9,757, an increase of 51 per cent (3,279 homes) on the 6,478 homes completed in the previous year, and the highest financial year figure recorded since the start of the series in 2000-01. There were increases in the number of completions for social rent (by 56 per cent or 2,608 homes), affordable rent (by 40 per cent or 368 homes) and affordable home ownership (by 35 per cent or 303 homes).

• A total of 3,232 affordable homes were approved in the latest quarter, January to March 2022, which brings the total number of affordable homes approved in the 12 months to the end of March this year to 7,821, a slight decrease of one per cent (63 homes) on the 7,884 homes approved in the previous year. There were increases in the number of approvals for affordable rent (by six per cent or 56 homes) and affordable home ownership (by 19 per cent or 164 homes), whilst approvals for social rent fell by five per cent or 283 homes).

• Meanwhile the 3,160 affordable homes started in the latest quarter, January to March 2022, brings the total number of affordable homes started in the 12 months to the end of March this year to 8,253, a decrease of 19 per cent (1,897 homes) on the 10,150 homes started in the previous year. There was a rise of 16 per cent (144 homes) in the number starts for affordable home ownership, whilst starts for social rent fell by 17 per cent or 1,342 homes, and starts for affordable rent decreased by 49 per cent or 699 homes.

• Quarterly affordable housing supply statistics are used to inform progress against Scottish Government affordable housing delivery targets. The latest quarterly figure of 3,346 affordable homes completed in January to March 2022 shows that the 50,000 affordable housing supply target was met by the end of March this year, with a total of 51,119 homes completed between April 2016 and the end of March 2022.

• Of the 50,000 affordable homes completed between April 1 2016 and March 23 2022, 34,405 homes (69 per cent) were for social rent, 6,245 (12 per cent) were for affordable rent, and 9,350 (19 per cent) were for affordable home ownership.

Finally, the Scottish Government says: “Now that the 50,000 affordable homes target has been met, the longer-term ambition is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70 per cent will be for social rent and ten per cent will be in remote, rural and island communities. The latest statistics show that from March 24 2022 up to March 31 2022, a total of 1,119 affordable homes (1,057 homes for social rent, 16 for affordable rent, and 46 for affordable home ownership) have been completed against the new 110,000 target.”

Pictured: Portobello, Edinburgh, Picture credit: Place Design Scotland