Key Points

Housing stock by tenure

• As of 31st March 2024, there were 2.73 million dwellings estimated in Scotland. Of these, 60% were owner-occupied, 23% were social rented properties, 13% were privately rented or lived in rent-free and 4% were vacant or second homes.

New housing supply (new build, rehabilitations, and net conversions)

• 19,779 new homes were added to the housing stock in 2024–25. This was 628 fewer homes (a 3% decrease) than in 2023–24. 2024–25 saw the lowest total of new housing supply since 2017–18, except for 2020–21, when COVID-19 restrictions impacted housebuilding.
• Nearly all the new housing supply came from new build homes (97%), a small proportion were from rehabilitations and conversions (3%).

Social rented sector

• There were 638,065 homes in the social rented sector as of 31st March 2025, a 1% (or 5,035) increase compared with the previous year. 51% were owned by local authorities and 49% were owned by housing associations.

Local authority housing

• During 2024–25, there were 26,602 permanent lettings of local authority housing. This was 1,179 more lets than the previous year, an increase of 5%. Nearly half of these homes (49%) were given to homeless households. A further 25% went to people on housing waiting lists, 21% were transfers for existing tenants, and 1% fell into other categories.
• In 2024–25, councils issued 16,543 notices to start eviction proceedings against tenants. This was similar (-0.6% difference) compared with 2023–24 but was 33% lower than before the pandemic in 2019–20. There were 676 cases that ended in eviction or tenants abandoning their homes, an increase of 20% from the previous year but 41% lower than levels before the pandemic. The temporary moratorium on evictions put in place through the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Scotland Act (in 2022, after COVID-19 eviction restrictions) ended on 31 March 2024. Eviction orders could be enforced as normal after this date.  Most of cases ending in eviction/abandonment (94%) were because of rent arrears rather than antisocial behaviour or other reasons.
• As of 31st March 2025, there were 180,074 housing applications recorded across 26 local council (or common housing register) waiting lists. This was 1% higher than in March 2024 and the highest figure since March 2013. These figures exclude local authorities that do not have local authority housing stock, such as Glasgow. People can also apply to more than one council and can apply for both council and housing association homes, so some households may be counted more than once.

Local authority supported housing

• In March 2025 there were 20,754 supported houses for older people and 32,111 supported houses for people with physical disabilities provided by local authorities. The total number of supported housing for older people and people with physical disabilities has increased by 27% in 10 years.

Scheme of Assistance for homes

• The Scheme of Assistance provides financial and non-financial support to homeowners and private tenants in Scotland to repair, maintain, improve, or adapt their homes, particularly for disabled or vulnerable residents.
• In 2024–25, 5,157 Scheme of Assistance grants were paid to householders, a 15% decrease (or 881 fewer grants) than 2023–2024. The majority of these were for adaptations for disabled people (3,348 grants). The total Scheme of Assistance spend was £35 million, of which £26.6 million was spent on grants.

Houses in multiple occupation licences

• As of 31st March 2025, there were a total of 15,449 houses in multiple occupation licences in force, an increase of 1% since the previous year.