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Scottish landlords see ‘worrying’ 27% slide in new home approvals
New home approvals among Scottish housing associations have fallen more than a quarter in a year, the latest official figures have revealed.
The government figures showed that approvals among landlords totalled 2,242 in the year to September 2022. This compared to 3,059 approvals in the previous 12 months.
Sally Thomas, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, branded the drop as “worrying”.
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She said it “underlined the importance” that Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s new first minister, must give to social housing.
Approvals are seen by the Scottish administration as a better measure than starts for housing associations, as approval is the point at which funding is granted. However a start can be recorded at any point during the development process.
Ms Thomas added: “If Scotland is to reach its ambitious target of 110,000 new affordable homes by 2032, housing associations will play a key role, and the first minister must redouble the Scottish government’s focus on supporting housing associations and co-operatives to provide homes to those who need them most.”
Housing association completions rose 5% to 3,912 in the year to September 2022.
The figures revealed a slightly more positive picture for local authority housebuilding. Completions among councils rose 42% to 2,833, while starts edged up 1% to 1,910.
Across all sectors, completions were up 10% in the year to 22,905, which was the highest annual figure since 2008, according to the National Statistics publication prepared for the Scottish government.
However, starts across all sectors fell by 12% to 19,227 in the year.
Last October, Scottish house builders warned that completions were still below pre-COVID levels. At the time, a Scottish government spokesperson said that global issues around the supply of materials, labour and inflation were affecting the pace of delivery.
