Housing statistics quarterly update: March 2019

Affordable Housing Supply – up to end December 2018

Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) statistics reflect the broader supply of affordable homes (i.e. for social rent, affordable rent and affordable home ownership) and include off the shelf purchases and rehabilitations as well as new builds. The social rent new build element of this covers largely the same houses referred to in the social sector new build section of this report. Statistics for the AHSP are available up to the end of December 2018. As a result they have been presented here for the year to end December. This differs from the figures in much of the remainder of this report which cover years to end September.

Changes in the funding programme in 2011 and 2012 impacted on the timing of affordable housing activity as well as the level of activity and this should be borne in mind when making comparisons over time.

Approvals, starts and completions are all measured for the AHSP. Approval is the point at which funding is granted and, along with completion, is a significant part of the administration process meaning that the data should be of good quality. Starts meanwhile can be recorded at any point in the development, for example when site clearance begins or any point up to the beginning of ground works for foundations. As a result approvals are generally deemed a better measure than starts for AHSP data.

Social Rent includes Housing Association Rent, Council House Rent as well as Home Owner Support Fund Rent.

Affordable Rent includes Mid-Market Rent (MMR), National Housing Trust (NHT) Rent as well as other programmes such as the Empty Homes Loan Fund (EHLF) and Rural Homes for Rent (RHfR).

Affordable Home Ownership includes Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE), New Supply Shared Equity (NSSE), Shared Ownership (LCHO) as well as other programmes such as Home Owner Support Fund Shared Equity.

Quarterly affordable housing supply statistics are used to inform the Scottish Government target to deliver 50,000 affordable homes, including 35,000 homes for social rent, over the period 2016/17 to 2020/21, and reflect the number of affordable homes delivered that have received some form of government support through loans, grant or guarantees.

A total of 1,993 affordable homes were completed in the quarter between October and December 2018, an increase of 5%, or 100 homes when compared to the equivalent quarter in the previous year. This brings the total for the year to end December 2018 to 8,867, up 20% on the 7,415 completions in the previous year.

Between October and December 2018 a total of 2,738 affordable homes were approved. This is 1,005 (58%) more than in the same quarter in the previous year. It brings the total for the year to end December 2018 to 12,570 approvals, up 22% on the previous year, the fourth consecutive annual increase, and an increase of 70% on the 7,392 approvals in 2015.

There were 2,331 affordable homes started in the quarter between October and December 2018, a 19% decrease, or 539 fewer homes than the same quarter last year. This brings the total for the year to end December 2018 to 9,659, down 13% on the 11,068 starts in the previous year.

Chart 11 below shows that total affordable housing supply programme completions increased by 20% in 2018 (year to end December). In the latest year, social rent completions accounted for 64% of all completions, with affordable rent and affordable home ownership making up 11% and 25% of the total, respectively.

Chart 12 below shows that the total affordable housing supply programme approvals increased by 22% in 2018 (year to end December). In the latest year, social rent approvals accounted for 64% of all approvals, with affordable rent and affordable home ownership making up 18% and 19% of the total, respectively^[2].