NEW housing supply in Scotland increased by ten per cent (or 2,161 homes) during the year, 2022-23, with 24,368 homes built compared to 22,207 in 2021-22.
Says Scottish Government statistics - published here on February 27 - the figure of 24,368 was the highest since the 2007-8 ‘financial crisis’.
Of the total new housing supply, 98 per cent (23,798 homes) were new-builds, 0.5 per cent (114 homes) were rehabilitations, and 1.9 per cent (456 homes) were ‘net conversions’ [a conversion of an existing property into usually multiple homes] in 2022-23.
Private sector new-build completions increased by 12 per cent (1,760 homes) in 2022-23 (16,840 homes) compared to 2021-22 (15,080 homes).
Meanwhile, the ‘social housing’ sector showed a six per cent (401 homes) increase in new-build completions between 2021-22 (6,557 homes) and 2022-23 (6,958 homes). Housing associations saw a 30 per cent increase (1,164 homes), while local authorities experienced a 28 per cent decrease (763 homes) in completions.
Rehabilitations of properties increased by 36 per cent from 84 in 2021-22 to 114 in 2022-23.
There was a six per cent decrease (30 homes) in net new dwellings created by conversions in 2022-23 (456 homes) compared with 2021-22 (486 homes).
Among other findings:
Affordable homes completions increased by seven per cent (705 homes) in 2022-23 (10,462 homes) compared to the year before (9,757 homes). This was the highest annual completions figure since the start of the series in 2000;
As of 31st March 2022, there were 2.7 million dwellings estimated in Scotland. Of these, 61 per cent were owner-occupied, four per cent were vacant or second homes, 13 per cent were privately rented or lived in rent-free, and 23 per cent were social rented properties;
The total social sector housing stock of 626,928 dwellings as of March 31 this year, compared with 618,559 dwellings in the previous year.
Housing association stock has increased every year since 2016, reaching 303,782 dwellings as of end March 2023. This is a 2.1 per cent increase compared with March 2022 and a 9.2 per cent increase compared with March 2016;
Local authority housing stock has seen annual increases since 2018-19, reaching 323,146 dwellings as of end March 2023. This is a 0.6 per cent increase compared with 2021-22 and a 2.7 per cent increase since 2018-19;
Local authorities reported 11,534 units of vacant stock at end March 2023, a 1.4 per cent increase compared with the previous year;
In March this year, there were 20,428 supported houses for older people and 29,982 supported houses for people with physical disabilities. There was a small decrease (1.3 per cent) in supported housing for older people and an increase (6 per cent) in housing for people with physical disabilities between March 2022 and March 2023;
During 2022-23, there were 23,650 permanent local authority lettings made, a decrease of 970 lets (four per cent) compared to the previous year. Of all the local authority lettings made in 2022-23, 48 per cent were to homeless households, 27 per cent were to those on a housing waiting list, 22 per cent were transfers to existing tenants, and 3 per cent classified as other.
There were 260 evictions and abandonments in 2022-23 relating to council tenants, an increase of 118 per cent since 2021-22. The latest figure is 77 per cent lower than pre-pandemic levels (2019-20). The majority (86 per cent)) of these terminations were due to rent arrears as opposed to antisocial behaviour or other reasons, this percentage is higher than in 2021-22 (71 per cent);
As of March 31, 175,092 applications were recorded on local authority or common housing register housing lists. This was a five per cent increase compared with March 2022 (8,019 more households). This is based on administrative data reported through ‘local authority and common housing register collections’ and does not include the six local authorities that have transferred all their housing stock to Registered Social Landlords; and
The 2022 Scottish Household Survey (SHS) estimates that there are a total of 100,000 (four per cent) households reporting to be on a ‘housing list’, with a further 10,000 (0.4 per cent) households having applied for ‘social housing’ using a choice-based letting system or similar within the last year. Says the Scottish Government: “Some caution is advised when considering this estimate, due to the slight under-representation of rented sector households within the 2022 SHS sample, leading to an under-estimation of total households on housing lists.”
Image details: Granton, Edinburgh; copyright Mike Wilson