Commenting on Scottish Government housing statistics published today Scottish Labour Housing spokesperson Mark Griffin said “We are almost two and a half years on from declaring a housing emergency and alarmingly little progress has been made.

“The government set ambitions for an increase of 10% in housebuilding – but today’s stats show a fall of 11%. Far from achieving their targets they are missing them by miles.

“With record numbers of children in temporary accommodation we cannot afford to be moving backwards. New builds are down, social house completions are down, private sector starts are at their lowest level since 2013.

“We will work with any government serious about ending the housing emergency and building the homes we need here in Scotland – but if we are to tackle child poverty, get kids out of temporary accommodation and make housing more affordable for everyone we need to make sure we have real investment, reliable funding and actual ambition.”

Notes:

New house building, in the year ending June 2026:

• 17,057 new build homes were completed, and construction began on 15,543 homes across Scotland’s private and social housebuilding sectors.
• Overall, housebuilding activity was lower than the previous year; completions fell by 11% (2,123 fewer homes) and new starts fell by 2% (272 fewer homes). Looking at the longer-term trends, completions were at their lowest level since 2015, while starts were at their lowest level since 2013.
• The private sector completed 13,574 homes and started building 11,842 homes. Compared with the previous year, completions fell by 7% (987 fewer homes) and starts fell by 8% (1,026 fewer homes). Private sector completions were at their lowest level since 2018 (excluding 2020, where Covid-19 measures restricted housebuilding), while starts were at their lowest level since 2013.
• The social sector completed 3,483 homes and started building 3,701 homes. Completions fell by 25% (1,136 fewer homes) but starts increased by 26% (754 homes) compared with the previous year. However, this increase should be viewed in context, as the previous year recorded the lowest number of social sector starts in the series. Social sector completions were at their lowest level since 2007, while starts remained 48% below their 2020 peak.
• A years’ worth of data is now available to monitor the all-tenure new housebuilding ambition of increasing supply by 10% each year over a three-year period, using July 2024 to June 2025 as the baseline. As reported above, 2,123 fewer homes were built in the year up to June 2026, a decrease of 11%.

Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP):

• In the year ending June 2026, the AHSP delivered 6,649 approvals, 7,143 starts, and 6,772 completions. The AHSP funds homes for social rent, affordable rent, and affordable home ownership. The supply of completed homes is a mixture of new build homes (76%), rehabilitations of existing homes (lower than 1%) and purchases of existing homes (off‑the‑shelf; 25%).
• There were annual increases reported for both AHSP approvals (42%, 1,969) and starts (34%, 1,802). There were annual increases reported for both AHSP approvals (42%, 1,969) and starts (34%, 1,802). However, the comparison year (ending June 2025) was a low base for approvals (lowest since 2010) as well as starts (lowest since 2013).
• Progress towards the 110,000 affordable housing target by 2032 (where at least 70% will be for social rent): as of the end of June 2026, 36,518 homes had been delivered — 77% social rent (28,286), 14% affordable rent (5,248), and 8% affordable home ownership (2,984).

Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-quarterly-update-new-housebuilding-and-affordable-housing-supply-to-end-june-2026/documents/