Scotland's Chief Statistician have published the latest quarterly statistics on housebuilding and affordable housing supply.

There were 14,834 all-sector new build homes completed in Scotland in the year to end December 2020, a decrease of 35% (7,839 homes) on the previous year, with activity levels having been affected by lockdown measures from March to June 2020. Decreases were seen across private-led completions (37% or 6,130 homes), housing association completions (32% or 1,389 homes) and local authority completions (20% or 320 homes).

The number of new build homes started across all sectors also decreased over the same period, with 17,883 starts, a decrease of 27% (6,680 homes) on the previous year. Private-led starts dropped by 32% (5,596 homes), local authority starts dropped by 41% (860 homes) and housing association approvals dropped by 5% (224 homes).

More up-to-date figures published as part of the UK House Price Index indicate that new build sales transactions have returned to pre-pandemic levels, with the number of transactions between January and July 2021 being broadly in line with monthly volumes in 2019. The 11,346 transactions in the year to end July 2021 is an increase of 18% (1,746 transactions) on the previous year.

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The latest social sector new housebuilding figures show that 1,513 social sector homes were completed in the quarter from January to March 2021. This is an increase of 19% (246 homes) on the previous quarter, but a decrease of 22% (415 homes) on the quarter January to March 2020. This brings total completions for the year to end March 2021 to 3,785, a decrease of 33% (1,887 homes) on the previous year, when activity levels were affected by lockdown measures.

Separate quarterly statistics on the Affordable Housing Supply programme show that there were 2,094 affordable homes completed in the latest quarter, July to September 2021, bringing the total number of affordable homes completed in the year to end September 2021 to 8,792. This is an increase of 20% (1,464 homes) on the previous year, with increases in the number of completions for social rent (by 15% or 802 homes), affordable rent (by 46% or 377 homes) and affordable home ownership (by 29% or 285 homes).

A total of 1,641 affordable homes were approved between July and September 2021, bringing the total number of approvals in the year to end September 2021 to 8,581, a decrease of 23% (2,626 homes) on the previous year. There were decreases in the number of approvals for social rent (down 28% or 2,545 homes), affordable rent (down 13% or 153 homes) but an increase in affordable home ownership (up 7% or 72 homes).

A total of 1,134 affordable homes were started between July and September 2021, bringing the total number of starts in the year to end September to 10,023. This is a decrease of 3% (351 homes) on the 10,374 homes started in the previous year, with decreases in the number of starts for social rent (down 8% or 631 homes) and affordable rent (down 5% or 77 homes), but an increase in the number of starts for affordable home ownership (up 40% or 357 homes).

Separate annual statistics show that as at September 2021, the number of long-term empty properties has decreased by 8% (3,567 properties) to 43,766. This follows on from an increase of 16% (6,370 homes) from 2019 to 2020, which was associated with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Over the same period the number of second homes decreased by 2% (576 dwellings) to 23,890.