Housing Statistics for Scotland Quarterly Update (published 1 Dec 2015)

New Build Housing - All sectors

The new-build section of this document provides figures on the number of homes started (when the foundations are begun) and completed (when a building inspector deems the property complete).

Figures are presented for homes built on privately led (referred to throughout as private sector), local authority led (referred to as local authority sector) and housing association led (referred to as housing association sector) sites. For the private sector the latest information available is for the quarter ending June 2015. Whilst more up-to-date information is available for local authority and housing association new build, findings for these sectors are mainly presented up to June 2015 to simplify comparisons between sectors.

The figures have not been seasonally adjusted and so commentary tends to compare the latest quarter with the same quarter the previous year. To help with this, Quarter 2 figures (from April to June) have been highlighted in the charts to allow easy comparison over time. Some of the peaks in the number of starts in Quarter 1 (Jan to March) each year are due to large numbers of housing association approvals being granted near the end of the financial year.

Chart 1 shows the number of private sector, social sector and total new homes completed each quarter since 2005, whilst Charts 2 and 3, below, show annual and quarterly trends in starts and completions across all sectors.

Chart 2: Annual all sector new build starts and completions, years to end June, 2006-2015

Chart 3: Quarterly new build starts and completions (all sectors) since 2005

Trends over the last ten years:

Chart 2 shows that between 25,000 and 29,000 homes were started each year between 2006 and 2008 (years to end June) whilst slightly fewer (between 23,000 and 26,000) were completed.

Charts 1 to 3 all clearly show the impact of the recession in the second half of the last decade, with private sector led completions in particular falling throughout 2008 and the start of 2009. Home completions for all sectors fell more gradually between 2010 and 2012, then dipped under 14,000 in 2013, before increasing in 2014.

New Build Housing - All Sectors:

There were 3,653 new build homes completed between April and June 2015; 22% down on the same quarter in 2014. This brings the total for the year to end June 2015 to 15,258, down 5% (719 homes) compared to the 15,977 completed in the previous year.

There were 3,846 new build homes started between April and June 2015; 6% up on the same quarter in 2014. This brings the total for the year to end June 2015 to 16,427 which is up by 6% (934 homes) compared to the 15,493 homes started in the previous year.

Comparison with the rest of the UK from 2006 to 2014:

Each of the countries of the UK produces their own statistics on new build housing and all use broadly consistent definitions. New build statistics for each of the countries of the UK, as well as for Great Britain and the UK as a whole can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building

As Chart 4 shows, the rate of house building completions in Scotland has been below that of Northern Ireland but above that of England and Wales throughout the 2006 to 2015 period. The rates in all countries have generally dropped since 2005/06, but have risen slightly in the latest two years in Scotland, England and Wales. Data for 2014 and 2015 is not currently available for Northern Ireland but the completion rate per 10,000 population decreased between 2006 and 2012 before increasing up to 2013.

The 15,258 homes completed in Scotland in the year to end June 2015 equates to a rate of 29 per 10,000 population. This is higher than the equivalent rates in England (24) and for the latest available rates for Wales (20) although lower than the latest available rate for Northern Ireland (48 in 2013).

Chart 4: New house building as a rate per 10,000 population for UK countries, years to end June, 2006-2015

Sub-national figures for the year to end June 2015:

The information on new build housing in Scotland is collected and published at local authority level. Map A, below, shows new house building in the year to end June 2015, as a rate per 10,000 population.

In the year to end June 2015 the highest new build rates were observed in Midlothian, Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands, and the lowest in Dundee City, South Ayrshire and Inverclyde.

Map A: New build housing - all sector completions: rates per 10,000 population, year to end June 2015