The total figure of 18,182 completed across all sectors over the year ending June 2018 was up 695 on the previous year. The findings were released in the latest Quarterly Housing Statistics for Scotland, which presents information on new-build housing and affordable housing supply, along with the latest annual figures on long-term empty properties and second homes.
The 4% increase in all sector new build completions in the 12 months to the end of June included increases in housing association completions (25% or 618 homes) and local authority completions (25% or 306 homes), whilst private-led completions fell by 229 homes (2%).
There were 19,903 all-sector new-build starts in the 12 months to the end of June 2018, a figure that is 1,121 homes (6%) higher than the number of completions in the same period, but which is a decrease of 1,231 homes (6%) on the 20,534 starts in the previous year. Private-led starts fell by 1,593 homes (11%) and housing association approvals decreased by 215 homes (4%), whilst local authority starts increased by 577 homes (48%). The total number of social sector starts (housing association and local authority starts combined) increased by 362 homes (6%).
In particular, the figures show an increase in the provision of affordable homes, with a 21% rise in the number delivered in Scotland during the last year. The statistics show that 8,767 affordable homes delivered for the year to September 2018 and that a total of 80,104 have been provided since 2007.
Per head of population, Scotland has added 50% more affordable homes and more than five times as many social rented properties than England since 2014, said the Scottish government. An annual average of 137 homes have been delivered per 100,000 population, compared with 86 in England.
There were 5,340 social rented homes delivered, an increase of 864 homes, or 19%, on the previous year.
Housing minister Kevin Stewart said: “During the course of this Parliament we are investing more than £3 billion to deliver our target of at least 50,000 affordable, high-quality homes, including 35,000 homes for social rent.”
Nicola Barclay, chief executive of trade body Homes for Scotland, said: “It’s great to see ongoing growth in the overall number of homes being built, but just under seven hundred extra homes over the last year is not going to solve our housing crisis. In order to return to the levels of a decade ago, we would need to see ten times this number on an annual basis.”
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