Scottish Housing Market Review Q3 2025

11. Lending to House Builders, Insolvencies and Construction Prices

11.1. Lending to House Builders

Between January and August 2025, the average monthly value of outstanding loans to UK housebuilders was £6.4 billion – almost unchanged from the same period in 2024 (down 0.2%), and 7.4% higher than in 2023.

Source: Bank of England

11.2. Insolvencies

The number of construction companies registered in Scotland entering insolvency fell during 2020 during the early phases of the Covid pandemic, before rising during 2021. The trend has since levelled off around pre-Covid levels, with the 204 insolvencies recorded in the 12 months ending June 2025 the same as in the previous 12 months, and slightly (3%) below the 211 recorded in the 12 months ending June 2019. In contrast, in England and Wales the number of insolvencies recorded in the 12 months to June 2025 was 27% above the number recorded in the 12 months to June 2019.

Source: The Insolvency Service

11.3. Input and Output Prices for New Housing

Note: In previous editions of the Scottish Housing Market Review, the construction materials price index was reported. However, the UK Government has paused production of this index while the ONS undertakes a review of producer price indices, due to an issue identified with the chain-linking methods used to calculate the indices. For further information visit the ONS webpage.

ONS average weekly earnings data show that annual growth in total pay in the construction sector in GB has slowed in recent months, from 7.6% in the three months to April 2025 to 4.5% in the three months to July 2025. Meanwhile, ONS data shows that the annual growth rate in the construction-output price index for new housing has fallen from a peak of 12.3% in June 2022 to 2.7% in June 2025.

Source: ONS