Housing Statistics for Scotland Quarterly Update: New Housebuilding and Affordable Housing Supply to end December 2024
This statistical publication presents latest quarterly figures to end December 2024 on new housebuilding and Affordable Housing Supply, along with annual rates of new housebuilding and affordable housing supply per head of population, with comparisons to other UK countries.
Part of
All-sector new housebuilding
Chart 1: All Sector new housebuilding starts and completions, 2004 to 2024 (year to end December)
Chart 1 shows the annual number of all sector starts and completions from 2004 to 2024 (ending in December). During this period starts decreased from 2006 until they gradually started increasing after 2011, until a peak in 2019. Completions decreased from 2007 and generally started to increase from 2014, until 2019. Starts and completions in 2020 were affected by Covid-19 restrictions. After 2020 completions and starts increased and then started to decrease from 2022.
In total there were 19,797 new build homes completed, and 15,050 new build homes started in the year to the end of December 2024. This includes social sector led and private sector led new build completions and starts.
New build house completions and starts decreased between 2023 and 2024 (year to end December), as Chart 1 indicates. New housebuilding completions and starts decreased by 7% (-1,441 homes) and 9% (-1,538 homes) respectively.
Excluding 2020 where Covid-19 impacted housebuilding, new build completions were the lowest since the year to end of December 2017. Starts were at the lowest point since the year to end of December 2013.
Map A shows that in the year to the end of December 2024, the highest new build rate was in East Lothian which had rates of more than 75 homes completed per 10,000 population.
The lowest rates were observed in Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, Scottish Borders, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire which each had rates of 25 homes or fewer per 10,000 population.
Note that all-sector completion rates calculations contain some estimated figures for Clackmannanshire, East Dunbartonshire, South Ayrshire, Na h-Eileanan Siar, and Stirling. Further details are in the Data and Methodology section.
The latest quarterly data and comparison to the corresponding quarter in the previous year are shown in the ‘Quarterly Comparisons’ section. Timeseries data along with local authority breakdowns are contained in the supporting Excel tables.