Adds to shortfall of over 100,000 homes accumulated since 2008 as home builders call for urgent action on planning and regulation

 As Scotland’s housing emergency continues, statistics published today show that starts and completions across all sectors fell by nine and seven per cent respectively between 2023 and 2024 – representing the third successive year in which the number of homes delivered across all tenures has fallen.

With private sector starts reaching their lowest level since 2013, Jane Wood, Chief Executive at sector body Homes for Scotland (HFS), whose members deliver the majority of the country’s new homes of all tenures, said:

“It will soon be a year since the Scottish Parliament declared a national housing emergency.  Starts and completions are the clearest form of data for tracking the effectiveness of the political response to this.  With these now falling for the third year in a row, there is nothing to assure either our members or the 693,000 Scottish households living in some form of housing need, that the situation is being tackled with the necessary resource and level of urgency that is so clearly warranted.

“Every year that new housing starts and completions continue to decline simply adds to the length of time it will take for Scotland to address the shortfall of over 100,000 homes that has now accumulated since 2008.

“Whilst we recognise the progress that the Scottish Government has made – its work with us on identifying stalled sites for example – this is not having the immediate impact that is required.  We again emphasise the need for emergency action: action on the regulatory burden, action on planning and action on Affordable Housing.  For instance, we are four months on from the announcement of a Housing Planning Hub but yet to see any tangible detail or outcomes. Affordable Housing budgets have been restored but we don’t know which projects will have the necessary funding to proceed.

“And with homelessness having reached another record high, comparisons regarding housing delivery elsewhere in the UK are not always helpful and do not reflect the ambition for housing that we believe Scotland deserves.

“Given the strong interdependencies between private and social housing delivery, it should be a wake-up call to all that private sector starts have reached their lowest level since 2013.  Until we get to grips with the issues of a failing land supply and a heavy regulatory burden it is doubtful we will see any immediate cessation in the housing emergency.

“As ever, HFS and its members stand ready to play their part in increasing the supply of high-quality, energy efficient and affordable homes across all tenures to tackle the housing emergency and provide their crucial expertise on how Scotland’s regulatory framework can deliver rather than block the new homes so desperately needed by Scotland’s people.”

ENDS
25 March 2025