The number of new private sector houses started in 2011-12 showed a 23 per cent increase over the previous year, official statistics confirmed today.

10,732 new homes were started in the year to 31 March 2012 compared to 8,731

made in the year to 31 March 2011.

This increase follows four years of recorded annual decreases in private sector new build starts.

The rate per 100,000 population of private sector starts in Scotland is 205.5 for the 2011/2012 financial year, compared to 161.4 in England covering the same period.

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This figure for private sector new build starts in Scotland as a rate of population for 2012 is the first recorded increase in the rate since 2006-07.

There was a continued increase in the number of council houses across Scotland with 2,216 started in the past two financial years, compared to 1,839 in the previous fourteen years combined.

Housing Minister Keith Brown said: "I am encouraged with the increase in the number of private sector houses started in the last year, although these remain very challenging times for the house building industry.

"It is important to acknowledge that high deposit requirements and reduced mortgage availability are continuing to prove a barrier to recovery in the housing market."

(GK)