Scotland’s housebuilding sector appears to be putting the pandemic behind it, with a 26% rise in new homes.
There were 20,056 all-sector new build homes completed in Scotland in the year to end September 2021, according to quarterly statistics on housebuilding and affordable housing supply published today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.
Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland Jane Wood said: “Ensuring we have the homes that all those living in Scotland require to meet housing need and aspiration is essential to our country’s social wellbeing and economic success so the increase in completions across all tenures that has been announced today is clearly very welcome. However, there is still a very long way to go.
“Figures are still significantly down on activity levels pre-Covid and twenty per cent below what we believe is required each year so there is no room for complacency – particularly given the very difficult circumstances currently facing home builders in terms of labour and material shortages and the significant cost pressures that result, affecting both public and private sectors.
Wood highlighted the 44% drop in housing association approvals, added: “Unfortunately, this is consistent with member feedback and demonstrates the importance of having effective, timely data to support policy-making and the wider economy of Scotland. Urgent action must be taken to arrest this decline otherwise we will see ever decreasing numbers of affordable homes coming through the pipeline.”
This is an increase of 26% (4,174 homes) on the 15,882 completions in the previous year, in which activity levels were impacted by Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown measures. Increases were seen across private-led completions (25% or 2,894 homes), local authority completions (77% or 865 homes), and housing association completions (13% or 415 homes).
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% (2,476 homes) on the 19,190 starts in the previous year. Private-led starts rose by 37% (4,478 homes) and local authority starts increased by 31% (450 homes), whilst housing association approvals dropped by 44% (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 end January 2022. This is an increase of 38% (3,202 transactions) on the 8,461 transactions recorded in the previous year to end January 2021.
Latest social sector new housebuilding figures to end December 2021 show an increase of 42% (1,785 homes) to 6,025 completions in the year to end December 2021, which compares to 4,240 completions in the previous year. Starts however fell by 17% (1,103 homes) to 5,007 in the year to end December 2021, down from 6,020 starts in the previous year.
Separate quarterly statistics on the Affordable Housing Supply programme show there were a total of 3,346 affordable homes completed in the latest quarter January to March 2022. This brings the total number of affordable homes completed in the 12 months to end March 2022 to 9,757, an increase of 51% (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% or 2,608 homes), affordable rent (by 40% or 368 homes) and affordable home ownership (by 35% or 303 homes).
Meanwhile there were 3,232 affordable homes approved in the latest quarter January to March 2022, which brings the total number of affordable homes approved in the 12 months to end March 2022 to 7,821, a slight decrease of 1% (63 homes) on the 7,884 homes approved in the previous year. There were increases in the number of approvals for affordable rent (by 6% or 56 homes) and affordable home ownership (by 19% or 164 homes), whilst approvals for social rent fell by 5% or 283 homes.
There were 3,160 affordable homes started in the latest quarter January to March 2022, which brings the total number of affordable homes started in the 12 months to end March 2022 to 8,253, a decrease of 19% (1,897 homes) on the 10,150 homes approved in the previous year. There was a rise of 16% (144 homes) in the number starts for affordable home ownership, whilst starts for social rent fell by 17% or 1,342 homes, and starts for affordable rent decreased by 49% 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 during March 2022, with a total of 51,119 homes completed between April 2016 and end March 2022.
Of the 50,000 affordable homes completed between 1 April 2016 and 23 March 2022, 34,405 homes (69%) were for social rent, 6,245 (12%) were for affordable rent, and 9,350 (19%) were for affordable home ownership.
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% will be for social rent and 10% will be in remote, rural and island communities. The latest statistics show that from 24 March 2022 up to 31 March 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.
Source: Show House News
