Housing supply (including affordable) across the UK

All-sector housing supply across the UK countries

Chart 10 presents trends in the rates of all-sector new housebuilding completions per 10,000 population across each of the UK countries on a financial year basis (years to end March).

Please note that the most comprehensive measure for England’s housing supply is the financial year ‘net additional dwellings' series, rather than the indicative indicators of activity published in the quarterly new build statistics.

Chart 10: UK New housebuilding completions as a rate per 10,000 population, 2007-08 to 2023-24 (years to end March).

Scotland built more homes per 10,000 population in 2023-24 compared with Northern Ireland and Wales, as Chart 10 shows. In Scotland the completions rate was 36 per 10,000 people, England was 34 per 10,000 people, Northern Ireland was 28 per 10,000 people, and Wales was 15 per 10,000 people.

Housebuilding rates decreased across the UK in the latest period. The largest decrease (between 2022-23 and 2023-24) was reported in Wales (-18%), followed by Scotland (-17%), Northern Ireland (-16%) and England (-7%).

Affordable housing delivery across UK countries

Whilst definitions and the delivery of affordable housing differs across the UK, comparisons can be made considering these differences by financial year per 10,000 population.

Chart 11 below illustrates how affordable housing delivery per 10,000 population have varied on a financial year basis across the 2007-08 to 2023-24 period by UK country.

Chart 11: Affordable housing delivery across the UK as a rate per 10,000 population 2007-08 to 2023-24 (years to end March).

In 2023-24, the 9,514 affordable homes delivered in Scotland equates to a rate of 17.3 homes delivered per 10,000 population. There were 2,210 affordable homes delivered in Northern Ireland, equating to 11.5 homes per 10,000 people, 62,289 home were delivered in England, equating to 10.8 homes per 10,000 people and 3,135 homes in Wales equating to 9.9 per 10,000 people.

The number of affordable homes delivered decreased across the UK. The largest decrease (between 2022-23 and 2023-24) was reported in Scotland (-9.1%; -952), followed by Wales (-6.9%; 234), England (-2.4%; -1,533) and an increase in Northern Ireland (2.1%, +46).

Accounting for the population, the rates decreased between 2022-23 and 2023-24 in Scotland (-9.8%), followed by Wales (-7.9%), England (-3.4%) and an increase in Northern Ireland (1.6%).

Between 2007-08 and 2023-24, the annual average supply of affordable housing per head of population in Scotland has been 14.5 homes per 10,000 population, 73% higher than Wales (8.4 homes per 10,000 population), 47% higher than England (9.9 homes per 10,000 population and 16% higher than Northern Ireland (12.5 homes per 10,000 population – average across the years 2010-11 to 2021-22).

Across the UK there are differences in the use of affordable housing products within the mix of overall affordable housing in each country. For example, in England, there has been a greater use of affordable rent (4.2 per 10,000 people) compared with Scotland (2.5 per 10,000 people). Scotland (12.4 per 10,000 people) has a greater use of social rent compared with England (4.2 per 10,000 people).