Affordable housing supply

Affordable Housing Supply Programme 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. Latest statistics are available up to the end of March 2024.

The statistics reflect the number of affordable homes delivered that have received some form of government support through loans, grants or guarantees.

Approvals, starts and completions are all measured for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. Approval is the point at which funding is granted. Starts are recorded when an on-site presence is established to progress site work. Completion measures when the units are delivered and ready for occupation.

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.

As Chart 4 shows 6,981 affordable homes were approved, 6,755 affordable homes were started, 9,514 affordable homes were completed in 2023-24. An increase (9%; 585 homes) in approvals was reported between 2022-23 and 2023-24. Decreases in starts (-3%; -235 homes), and completions (-9%; -952 homes) were reported.

Chart 4: Affordable housing supply approvals were the second lowest since 2014-15, starts were the lowest since 2014-15 and completions were down from a 15 year peak reached in 2022-23.

Charts 5 to 7 present information on trends in affordable housing supply by type. Most approvals (71%, 4,981 homes), starts (75%, 5,085 homes), and completions (72%, 6,835 homes) were for social rent in 2023-24.

Comparing 2023-24 to 2022-23, there was an increase in the number of homes completed for affordable home ownership (55% increase, 470 homes) and decreases for social rent (15% decrease; -1,246 homes) and other affordable rent (11% decrease, -176 homes).

Chart 5: Affordable housing supply approvals by type, 2013-14 to 2023-24.

Chart 6: Affordable housing supply starts by type, 2013-14 to 2023-24.

Chart 7: Affordable housing supply completions by type, 2013-14 to 2023-24.

Affordable housebuilding starts, approvals and completions are published on a quarterly basis. Comparisons of quarterly data should be made to the corresponding quarter in a previous year as there have been no seasonal adjustments made to the data.

Table 3: Affordable housebuilding approvals, starts, and completions for 2022-23 and 2023-24, by quarter.

Table 3 shows approvals were higher in Q4 2023-24 (24%, 751 homes) compared with Q4 2022-23, starts were also higher (20%, 508 homes) and but completions were lower (-11%, -402 homes).

Quarterly affordable housing supply statistics are used to inform progress against Scottish Government affordable housing delivery targets, in which the ambition is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be for social rent and 10% will be in rural and island communities. So far, 21,092 affordable homes have been completed and counted towards the target. These completions consist of 15,964 (76%) homes for social rent, 2,904 (14%) for affordable rent, and 2,224 (11%) for affordable home ownership.

Timeseries data along with local authority breakdowns as well as further detail on affordable housing supply are contained in the supporting Excel tables.

The Scottish Government Affordable Housing Supply Programme policy area webpages also include annual Out-Turn Reports, which provide further detailed programme information for each financial year.