Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) Tool Instructions (2026)

What’s Refreshed in 2026?

The HNDA Tool and all three HNDA guides been refreshed, however, the approach and process remain largely the same.

The main changes include:

• updated data inputted to the HNDA Tool for household projections, existing housing need (HoTOC), house prices, rent prices and incomes
• all income and house price scenarios and economic assumptions have been updated based on the latest economic outlook
• some clarification about the estimation of existing housing need
• new accessible format applied to each HNDA guide
• the Specialist Provision section includes two additional categories of care and support needs for children living in poverty and homeless households or those at risk of homelessness. Key workers have also been included.
• additional guidance on rurality
• more focus on empty homes, second homes and short-term lets
• providing more information on quality assurance
• core output one has an addition which is shown below in the text below
  • “Core Output One - Identifies key factors driving the local housing market [new text starts hare] and explains what each of them may mean for the future of housing in the area and in terms of what scenarios may be chosen to run in the HNDA Tool”
• core output four has an addition which is shown below in the text below:
  • “stock should be considered by size, type, condition, occupancy (overcrowding and under-occupancy), concealed families and turnover (re-lets and voids), tenure and location. [New text starts here] Empty homes, second homes and short-term lets should also be included. Show the amount of home ownership in the area in the context of the various routes/ schemes into home ownership. Show the amount and levels of affordable housing in the area by the different type of affordable housing”
• the use of time series has also been added to the core outputs
• some guidance on using sensitivity testing whereby the local authority would test the impact of changing the Tool variable on the results. For example, an authority might run each of the income distributions to test what impact this has on the results. The sensitivity testing can be done before the local authority makes their final choice of scenarios and variables to run in the Tool.

Comparability with previous HNDAs

For unitary local authorities, the outputs of the previous HNDAs will be comparable to the current HNDA. Where groups local authorities work together as a City Region to produce an HNDA, these will be less comparable where a local authority has chosen not to remain part of a City Region.

Those authorities who are part way through their HNDA at the time of this refresh can continue to use the previous version of the Tool (v4.0) and guidance should they wish to or they can choose to use the refreshed version of the Tool (v5.0) and guidance. Authorities who are in this position may wish to contact the Centre for Housing Market Analysis for advice.

Scottish Government Planning Reform

NPF4 introduced a Minimum All Tenure Housing Land Requirement (MATHLR). The expectation is that planning authorities should go beyond and exceed the MATHLR as they prepare Local Development Plans (LDP). The MATHLR is based, in part, on two outputs from the HNDA Tool (v4.0) i.e. household projections over ten years and existing housing need. More information about the MATHLR can be found on the website called Scottish Government National Planning Framework 4.

Advice on how the MATHLR and HNDA connect to LDPs is set out in Local Development Planning Guidance. It outlines that where more recent information is available this should be used.

It remains the case that a full HNDA is a key part of the LHS process and is required to inform the development of the LHS. We expect local authority housing and planning authorities to work closely in the development of the HNDA. HNDAs will be updated every five years. Local authorities will want to consider the timing of the HNDA to ensure that it informs both the development of an LHS and the Evidence Report for the LDP.

The MATHLR, as reflected in NPF4, can be referred to in both the HNDA and LHS however the HNDA and LHS should not be constrained to the assumptions and outputs of the MATHLR.