Housing Statistics 2022 & 2023: Key Trends Summary

New house builds accounted for 98% of the total new housing supply in 2022-23, with 23,798 completed across Scotland. Overall, there was 10% increase of 2,161 homes on the previous year.

As Chart 3 shows, new build house completions delivered by the private sector increased by 12% (1,760 homes) and the social sector saw a 6% increase (401 homes) between 2022-23 and 2021-22. However, when looking at the components of the social sector annual trends differ. There was a 30% increase (1,164 homes) in the number of new builds completed by housing associations and a 28% (763 homes) decrease in completions by local authorities.

Chart 3: In 2022-23, new housebuilding returned to levels last seen before COVID-19 restrictions impacted housebuilding in 2020-21

Over the years, the number of new houses being built has been influenced by different events like World Wars, post-war rebuilding, the development of new towns, the 2007 economic crisis, and the coronavirus pandemic. The largest recorded number of new homes constructed was in 1970, reaching 43,126. You can find data from 1920 onwards in the summary tables of new housebuilding in Scotland Excel tables, and previous publications outline factors affecting housing supply in more detail over this period.

The rates of new housing completions differ across local authorities. Further information on these variations can be found in the quarterly publication series, last published in December 2023.

More recent housebuilding data can be found in our quarterly housebuilding publications. Further detailed figures are available in the new housebuilding Excel web tables, along with the new build housing starts and completions Open Data tables.