Housing statistics 2018: key trends summary

Local Authority Housing Stock

Local authority stock levels have been decreasing each year since the 1980s, although the rate of decrease has slowed in recent years. As at 31^st March 2018 there were 314,482 local authority units, down by 334 units on the previous year.

This can be attributed to 3 main factors:

• tenants buying their homes under Right to Buy
• transfers of stock from public authorities to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs)
• a decline in the number of new local authority dwellings being built.

In general these factors have become less significant in recent years, and in fact the number of new local authority dwellings being built have shown some increases since 2008. As a result, recent decreases in local authority stock levels have correspondingly been fairly small.

Local authority stock levels have decreased by 334 units from the previous year, to 314,482 units on 31^st March 2018. Figures for social sector stock at March 2018 showed that of the 595,881 units, 53% were owned by local authorities. This represents a substantial change since the mid-1990s when public authorities owned nearly 90% of the 783,000 units of social rented stock^[3]. The increased contribution of Registered Social Landlords to the social rented sector is reflected in their rising stock levels since the late 1990s. Chart 8a below shows recent trends in the ownership of social rented housing stock.

Chart 8a: Social sector housing stock, 1999 to 2018

Link to tables on local authority housing stock: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/Stock

Looking at local authority owned housing stock by dwelling type, 45% of local authority housing stock at March 2018 were houses. The remaining stock consists of 4 in a block (19%), tenement flats (20%), high rise flats (6%), and other types of flats and maisonettes (10%).

Chart 8b: Local authority owned housing stock by dwelling type, as at March 2018

There were some regional variations in the type of stock held by the different councils. Local Authorities with the highest percentage of houses were Orkney (84%), Shetland (84%), Moray (76%) and Highland (74%). Edinburgh and Renfrewshire had relatively high percentages of their stock as flats (82% and 79% respectively). The highest proportions of stock in high-rise flats were seen in Aberdeen (18%), Edinburgh (15%), and West Dunbartonshire (14%), whilst tenement flats were relatively common in Dundee (52%) and Edinburgh (50%). In both South Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire 28% of stock was in 4 in a block flats.

Link to tables on stock by type: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/Stock