Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019

Housing Stock Attributes

The age of construction and build form of a dwelling has consequences for energy performance, improvement potential, affordability of heating and housing conditions. At the same time, types of dwellings can differ in terms of the size of exposed areas with fewer exposed areas of wall, or shielding by dwellings above and below, leading to lower levels of heat loss than in buildings with fewer sheltered sides. Household stock attribute data demonstrates that Scottish housing is diverse and varies across authorities. Such variations will be a factor in later statistics on energy efficiency and fuel poverty and should be borne in mind.

On average over the period 2017-2019, over two thirds of Scotland's dwellings were built after 1945 (70%). However, this figure is as high as 88% in West Lothian and as low as 52% in City of Edinburgh.

Glasgow City is the authority where households were most likely to live in flats (73%) rather than houses, followed by City of Edinburgh (66%). On the other hand, households in Orkney Islands (96%), Na h-Eileanan Siar (96%) and Shetland Islands (93%) were most likely to live in houses. This compares to, on average, 36% of Scottish households living in flats and 64% living in houses in 2017-2019.

Nationally, half (50%) of households lived in dwellings with one or two bedrooms and half (50%) lived in dwellings with 3 or more bedrooms. Households in Glasgow City (33%) were least likely to have 3 or more bedrooms while those in Na h-Eileanan Siar and Orkney Islands (both 69%) were most likely.