Updated housing statistics released today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician reveal that there were 3,755 new build completions in Q4 of 2012.

This however, is a 9% decline compared to the same quarter in 2011. It brings the total number of new builds for the year to end December 2012 to 14,877, down 2% from the previous year.

In Q4 of 2012, there were 3,144 new build starts, again a decrease from the same period a year previously (7%) and brings the total for the year to end December 2012 to 13,541, a rise of 2% when compared to the previous year. Despite being the first calendar year increase since 2006, it is still the second lowest figure since 1980.

Within the private sector, 2,661 private sector led houses were completed in Q4 of 2012, to bring the total number for the year to 9,862. This is 1% below the 9,935 completions for the year to end December 2011.

-- Advertisement --

There were 2,524 private sector starts with the quarter, bringing the total for the year to 10,215 – a 4% increase.

When it came to the housing association figures, the build activity is funded through Scottish Government funding programmes. Several changes to these funding programmes in recent years have affected both the trends and seasonal quarterly pattern of housing association new build approvals so care should be taken when making comparisons over time.

For Q1 of 2013, there were 1,143 housing association starts, bringing the total for 2012/13 to 1,620. This is a 38% decrease on the 2,593 starts a year previously. There were 921 housing association completions in the quarter to bring the total for 2012/13 to 3,244. This is a 32% decrease from 2011/12.

Local Authority homes are also mainly funded through Scottish Government funding programmes and for Q1 2013, there were 334 starts, bringing the annual total up to 1,161 for the year to end March 2013. This is a 45% increase on the 798 starts in the year to end March 2012.

However, there were just 248 local authority completions in the quarter. bringing the annual total to 9,651, a 13% decrease from a year before.

(JP/CD)