Why Scotland needs to build more homes immediately

Everyone recognises the problem, writes David Alexander, but few are willing to come up with any meaningful solutions.

Last weekend First Minister John Swinney told Sky’s Trevor Phillips that Scotland needs more migrants into Scotland to grow economically. As part of this strategy, you would assume that his government would be actively involved in creating an appropriate infrastructure to accommodate these additional people. A major element of this plan must be housing yet there is little evidence that anything is being done in the sector.

Glasgow City Council, whose leader Susan Aitken, recently said that the city couldn’t take any more migrants without financial support has – according to the latest statistics – started building just 440 all-sector newbuild properties in the latest 12-month period. This is the lowest figure ever for the city and is just 2.8 per cent of Scotland’s total. Less than 20 years ago in 2006/07 Glasgow had the greatest number of all-sector newbuild starts at 5,531 (19.1 per cent of the total) in one year.

But the problem isn’t confined to Glasgow. The number of all-sector newbuild starts in Scotland fell 6 per cent in the latest 12-month period. The Scottish government’s latest housing statistics quarterly update showed that financial year newbuild starts between 2023/24 and 2024/25 fell by 1,004 (-6 per cent) from 16,608 to 15,604, which is the lowest 12-month figure since 2012/13.

The drop in private sector newbuilds was 645 (-4.9 per cent) lower, falling from 13,102 to 12,457 – the lowest annual figure since 2013/14 when 11,913 homes were started.

The data for the social housing sector fell by 10.2 per cent dropping 359 from 3,506 in 2023/24 to 3,147 in 2024/25, which is the lowest annual figure since 2012-13.

Of further concern is that there is a wide disparity in the volume of newbuilds by area with some parts of Scotland barely building and others experiencing a boom. If you add together figures for Edinburgh and the surrounding areas including Fife, Midlothian, West Lothian and East Lothian, the total figure is 6,324, which means 40.5 per cent of all newbuild starts in Scotland are occurring in and around the capital.

This wider picture of falling volumes of new housing presents a discouraging picture which will result in a continuation of rising prices and rents, coupled with lengthening housing waiting lists.

The private rented sector (PRS) in recent years has experienced enormous demand, with large numbers of people applying for too few properties. With social housing already unable to meet the existing demand for homes, hundreds of thousands on waiting lists, and tens of thousands homeless and in temporary accommodation, these latest newbuild figures highlight just how much worse an already difficult market is going to get.

Without a major investment in social housing, greater support for the private rental sector, and encouragement and more incentives for the housebuilding sector it is clear that tens of thousands of people living in Scotland are going to be unable to find a home to live in over the next few years.

Everyone recognises the problem, but few are willing to address the solution. It is essential that everyone involved in the sector – from builders, investors, landlords, agents, governments, trade bodies, and official housing bodies – unites to develop a quick, effective, and functioning solution to this rapidly growing problem. Scotland needs to build more homes, and it needs to do it immediately.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​