Housing Revenue Account (HRA) statistics: income and expenditure

Rent levels and income from rents (charts 3 & 4)

14. In 2016-17 the 26 Local Authorities with their own housing stock raised a total of just over £1bn in income (net of losses from empty properties) from standard rents on dwellings and a further £24m in rent from other HRA properties such as garages.

15. The average rent per dwelling (including both let and un-let properties) was £68 per week in 2016-17^[4] and is estimated to be £69 in 2017-18. In the decade since 2007-08 average rents have increased by £9 or 14% in real terms i.e. over and above general inflation. In 2016-17 there is variation between councils in average rents, from £55 per week in Moray to £94 per week in the City of Edinburgh.

16. These figures may be lower than rents reported in other publications^[5] as, rather than taking a weighted average of set rents charged to tenants, they instead reflect the amount earned by the council in respect of each property owned (calculated by dividing the Council's Standard Rental Income on houses by the total letting stock). This method takes into account the proportion of housing which spends some time un-let and those for which rent is not successfully collected.

17. Housing Benefit accounted for a high proportion of council rental income. In 2016-17, rent rebate subsidy for council house tenants was around £581m, representing 53% of total income from standard rents. This has decreased each year since 2014-15 when it was 57%. In 2016-17, rent rebate subsidy as a proportion of standard rents varied from 40% in Aberdeenshire to 70% in Dundee City.

Chart 3: Average rent per HRA property per week, Scotland, 1997-98 to 2016-17^1,2,3,4

Source:
Scottish Government , Communities Analytical Division - based on Housing Revenue Account return provided by Scottish Local Authorities.
Consumer Price Indes (source - ONS) CPI all Items Index. (2015 = 100).

Notes:
1. Six councils transferred their housing stock to the housing association sector, therefore HRA information is not available (n.a.) for them.
2. Dotted lines indicate breaks in comparability following 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.

3. Current (or nominal) prices are in the value of currency for that particular year. Current price are affected by inflation.
Constant (or real) prices adjust for the effects of inflation and used to measure the true growth of a timeseries. Constant prices have been deflated using the Consumer Price Index (by ONS).
4. This calculation includes both let and un-let properties and therefore the amount of rent actually paid by is likely to be slightly higher.

Chart 4: Average weekly rent, by Local Authority¹, 2016-17 (actual) and 2017-18 (estimated)

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

Notes:
1. Six councils transferred their housing stock to the housing association sector, therefore HRA information is not available (n.a.) for them.