Housing Statistics for Scotland Quarterly Update: New Housebuilding and Affordable Housing Supply (published 27 June 2023)

3. Private-led new housebuilding

The private sector is the biggest contributor to overall house building, accounting for over two-thirds (70%) of all homes completed in the 12 months to end March 2023.

Chart 5 below shows the annual number of private sector led starts and completions from 2008 to 2023 (years to end March).

This shows private sector led starts and completions falling substantially in the years to end March 2009, 2010, and 2011 due to the financial crisis. Since then starts and completions then increased until dropping in the year to end March 2021 due to the impact of COVID-19 construction lockdown measures in place between April and June 2020. In 2022 both starts and completions increased, but in the most recent year to end March 2023 whilst completions have increased by 10%, starts have increased by only 1%.

Chart 5: Annual private sector led new build completions have increased in the latest year to end March 2023 by 10%, and starts have increased slightly by 1%.

Chart 6 below presents the latest quarterly trends. In January to March 2023 there were 3,483 private sector led homes completed, a decrease of 2% (62 homes) on the same quarter in 2022. This brings the total for the year ending March 2023 to 16,549, an increase of 10% (1,491 homes) on the 15,058 completions in the previous year.

There were 2,857 private sector led homes started in January to March 2023, a decrease of 22% (819 homes) on the same quarter in 2022. This brings the total for the year to end March 2023 to 15,017 starts, a slight increase of 1% (105 homes) on the 14,912 starts in the previous year.

Chart 6: Private sector led new housebuilding starts and completions in January to March 2023 are lower the same quarters in each of the years 2019 to 2022.

Map B below shows that the local authority areas with the highest private sector led completion rates in the year to end March 2023 are Midlothian, East Lothian, West Lothian, Perth & Kinross, East Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, City of Edinburgh, Highland, and Renfrewshire, with all having a rate of over 36 homes per 10,000 households.

The lowest rates meanwhile are in Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire, West Dunbartonshire, Scottish Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, East Dunbartonshire, Orkney Islands, and North Lanarkshire, with all seeing rates of 15 or fewer homes per 10,000 households.

Note: Private sector completion rates calculations contain some estimated figures for Angus, East Dunbartonshire, South Ayrshire, and Stirling. More details are available in the notes section.