Housing Revenue Account (HRA) statistics: income and expenditure

Movement in the HRA reserves (chart 12)

32. In any given year, expenditure on the day-to-day maintenance and management of council housing tends to be less than the income from council house rents. The surplus income is spent on capital investment in housing including new council houses and improvements to existing stock (these improvements are in addition to the day-to-day maintenance) or added to the HRA reserves.

33. In 2016-17 Scottish Local Authorities had a surplus on their HRA (i.e. income minus expenditure) totalling around £225m, of which around £200m was invested on capital investment in housing.

34. In 2016-17 around £20m, was transferred out of the HRA fund into other council funds such as the Housing Repairs and Renewals Contingency Fund. Equally some small sums were transferred into the HRA fund (around £6m in 2016-17).

Chart 12: HRA surplus (year end) and what it is spent on (mainly housing and transfer to other housing related council funds¹), Scotland, 1997-98 to 2017-18 ²

Source:
Scottish Government, Communities Analytical Division - based on Housing Revenue Account returns provided by Scottish Local Authorities.

Notes:
1. Six councils transferred their housing stock to the housing association sector, therefore HRA information is not available for them.
2. Dotted lines indicate breaks in comparability following the transfer of housing stock as follows:

• from 2003-04 transfer of housing stock from Glasgow, Dumfries & Galloway and Scottish Borders,
• from 2006-07 transfer of housing stock from Argyll & Bute and Eilean Siar,
• from 2007-08 transfer of housing stock from Inverclyde.