NEWLY released figures have revealed a 6% decrease in all sector housebuilding completions in Scotland and a 3% fall in starts in the year to the end of June 2025.
There were 18,869 all sector homes built and 15,202 all sector new builds started during the period. The private sector built 14,274 homes, while the social sector built 4,595. In terms of starts, building work on 12,247 was started by the private sector and 2,955 homes by the social sector.
Excluding the pandemic-impacted 2020, private sector completions were the lowest since the year to the end of June 2018, though starts were higher than the previous year. In the social sector, completions were the lowest since 2017 and starts were the lowest since the beginning of this data collection from year to the end of June 1997.
In terms of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, in the year to the end June 2025, there were 4,680 approvals, 5,313 starts, and 6,851 completions of affordable homes. The number of completions were down by 27% compared to the previous year. Approvals and starts also decreased by 33% and 22%, respectively.
The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) responded to the stats by calling for ‘urgent action’ on the housing emergency.
Last week SFHA joined CIH Scotland and Shelter Scotland detailing research showing that Scotland needs to build over 15,000 social and affordable homes per year to meet housing need across the next parliament.
SFHA chief executive Richard Meade said, “This is a desperate situation. Tackling the housing emergency, ending child poverty and improving Scotland’s public health record simply cannot be done without building far, far more social homes.
“Our research shows that we must build over 15,000 affordable homes a year – and we’re not even reaching halfway towards that. If political parties believe in a fairer, more just Scotland than this must be the first priority of the next Scottish Government. If we don’t take urgent action then we will never end the housing emergency, committing thousands of Scottish families to a bleak future.”
