Affordable Housing Supply Programme

These statistics report on housing funded by the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP). Affordable homes can be supplied or funded in other ways, so the data does not reflect an assessment of the total number of affordable homes supplied in Scotland. The statistics reflect the number of affordable homes delivered that have received some form of government support through loans, grants or guarantees. Further details about definitions used are included at the end of this section and in the associated tables.

In 2025-26, there were 6,787 approvals, 7,421 starts, and 6,832 completions of affordable homes funded by the AHSP.

As Chart 6 shows, there were increases in affordable housing supply approvals (2,012, 42%) and starts (1,997, 37%), and a decrease in completions (-611, -8%) in 2025-26 compared to 2024-25.

Affordable housing supply approvals and starts in 2025-26 were 47% and 38% below the 2019-20 peak, with completions at their lowest since 2015-16 (aside from 2020-21 where Covid-19 impacted housebuilding) and approvals and starts higher than 2024-25.

Chart 8: Affordable Housing Supply Programme, housing completions, starts, and approvals, 2009-10 to 2025-26

Charts 9 to 11 present information on trends in affordable housing supply by type. Most approvals (85%, 5,758 homes), starts (84%, 6,242 homes), and completions (79%, 5,388 homes) were for social rent in 2025-26.

As shown in Chart 11, comparing 2025-26 to 2024-25, there were decreases in the number of homes completed for social rent (-9%; -556 homes), other affordable rent (-18%, -219 homes) and an increase in affordable home ownership (55%, 164 homes).

Chart 9: Affordable housing supply approvals by type, 2012-13 to 2025-26

Chart 10: Affordable housing supply starts by type, 2012-13 to 2025-26

Chart 11: Affordable housing supply completions by type, 2012-13 to 2025-26

Affordable housing starts, approvals and completions are published on a quarterly basis. Comparisons of quarterly data should be made to the corresponding quarter in a previous year as there have been no seasonal adjustments made to the data.

Table 1: Comparison of affordable housing approvals, starts, and completions, by quarter, for 2024-25 and 2025-26

Table 1 shows approvals and starts were higher in the last three quarters of 2025-26 compared with the previous year. Completions were higher in the final quarter of 2025-26. Comparing Q1 2026 to the same period in 2025, approvals increased by 45%, starts increased by 84% and completions by 14%.

Quarterly affordable housing supply statistics are used to inform progress against Scottish Government affordable housing delivery targets, in which the ambition is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be for social rent and 10% will be in rural and island communities. So far, 35,368 affordable homes have been completed and counted towards the target. These completions consist of 27,297 (77%) homes for social rent, 5,089 (14%) for affordable rent, and 2,982 (8%) for affordable home ownership.

Notes:

1. Timeseries data along with local authority breakdowns as well as further detail on affordable housing supply are contained in the supporting Excel tables.
2. The Scottish Government Affordable Housing Supply Programme policy area webpages also include annual Out-Turn Reports, which provide further detailed programme information for each year.
3. Approvals, starts and completions are all measured for the AHSP. Approval is the point at which funding is granted. Starts are recorded when an on-site presence is established to progress site work. Completions are measured when all homes on the site are delivered and ready for occupation – this differs to how the all-sector housebuilding completions are reported, which reports unit by unit. Therefore, there will be times where the AHSP will report completions in a local authority when the completions data reported in the social sector new housebuilding will be zero – this is because they will be reported in previous quarters.
4. Social Rent includes Housing Association Rent, Council House Rent as well as Homeowner Support Fund Rent.
5. Affordable Rent includes Mid-Market Rent (MMR), National Housing Trust (NHT) Rent as well as other programmes such as the Empty Homes Loan Fund (EHLF) and Rural Homes for Rent (RHfR).
6. Affordable Home Ownership includes Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE), New Supply Shared Equity (NSSE), Shared Ownership (LCHO) as well as other programmes such as Homeowner Support Fund Shared Equity.