Number of new homes built dropped by a third in Scotland

The number of new homes in Scotland fell by a third in one year, to the lowest total for eight years.

There were a total of 15,360 homes either built, refurbished or converted in 2020-21 - down by 33% from 23,047 in 2019-20.

A Scottish government report said the fall was down to the impact of Covid restrictions on construction.

A government spokesperson said more than 100,000 affordable homes had been delivered since 2007.

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The report said: "Before the pandemic, new housing supply had reached its highest point since the financial crisis in 2008, with 23,047 new homes built, refurbished, or converted in 2019-20.

"This was, however, 16% below the 27,594 new supply in 2007-08."

While the number of council and housing association homes increased, these rose by 0.5% compared to the 8% rise in the number of people on waiting lists.

As of 31 March 2021, there were 318,369 local authority homes across Scotland - an increase of 1,461 (0.5%) on the previous year and the third year in a row this total had grown.

The number of housing association properties increased by 1,539 (0.5%) to stand at 292,951 by the end of March last year.

Taken together, this means Scotland had a combined social housing stock of 611,320 properties at the end of March 2021, up from 608,320 the previous year.

Material and labour shortages

However, the figures also claimed as of 31 March 2021 there had been an 8% increase in applications for housing to local authority or common housing register lists since the previous year.

A Scottish government spokesperson said more than 100,000 affordable homes had been delivered since 2007.

They said: "We continue to work closely with the construction sector, through the construction leadership forum, to assess shortages of both materials and labour-facing parts of the construction sector and continue to be advised of developments in this regard, as well as any impact being seen on the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

"We are concerned that the number of people on the housing list has risen. Key to helping address this is the Scottish government's commitment to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities.

"The Scottish government continues to collaborate with a wide range of housing partners to ensure the delivery of more high quality homes to meet the need of communities across Scotland."