Housing Statistics 2022 & 2023: Key Trends Summary
Annual statistics up to 31 March 2023 on total new housing supply in Scotland across all sectors, along with information on various elements of local authority housing such as stock, lettings, house sales, evictions, housing lists, and housing for older people and people with disabilities.
This document is part of a collection
The total social sector housing stock of 626,928 dwellings as of 31st March 2023, compared with 618,559 dwellings in the previous year.
As of March 2023, local authorities own 52% of the social sector stock, with housing associations owning 48%. This compares local authorities owning 97% in 1981. The increased contribution of housing associations to the social rented sector is reflected in their rising stock levels since the late 1990s. This is illustrated in Chart 7.
Local authority housing numbers declined from the 1980s but began stabilising in the 2010s. The drops in local authority housing stock since the 1980s can be explained by three main factors: tenants buying homes under Right to Buy, stock transfers to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), and a decrease in new local authority builds. These factors have become less significant over time, particularly as the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014, included a provision to end Right to Buy for new applications in July 2016. Further details of previous trends in Right to Buy sales are available in the Sales of Social Sector Housing Excel web tables.
However, between March 2018 and March 2023, there has been a yearly increase in local authority units. As of March 2023, there were 323,146 units. This is a 0.6% increase compared with March 2022 and a 2.8% increase since March 2018.
Looking at local authority owned housing stock by dwelling type as of March 2023, 54% were flats and 46% were houses.
Housing association stock has increased every year since March 2016, reaching 303,782 dwellings as of end March 2023. This is a 2.1% increase compared with March 2022 and a 9.2% increase compared with March 2016.
Chart 7: Total social sector stock has been increasing steadily since 2018 while the proportion of housing association to local authority dwellings has stayed roughly the same.
There are geographical differences in the overall trends and stock by dwelling type. This can be explored in in the local authority housing stock Excel web tables.
Contact
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback