Social sector new build homes show a worrying decline | David Alexander

In his latest article for The Scotsman, David Alexander shares his insight into the most recent quarterly housing statistics and what this really means for the Scottish market.

David explains, “Although these latest numbers show private sector newbuilds dipped between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022 the annualised first two quarters of last year would be equivalent to 16,638 which would make the latest figures the second highest in a decade (2019 had 16,873).

However, in the social sector the picture is more concerning. Although there was only a 3.3 per cent drop in new builds between Q2 2021 and Q2 2020 the historic data show a more substantial decline. As recently as the year to Q2 2020 there were 7,518 newbuilds started in the social sector (and this included one quarter of the pandemic) which means total numbers have dropped by 3,72 (41.6 per cent) in just three years.”

David further explains that whilst there is hope for recovery and growth in the private construction market over the next few years, there is increasing worry that the social sector will fall very short in meeting demand. “All of our society requires a thriving, growing housing sector which needs all parts to be expanding if enough homes are to be available to house our population in the future.”

Read what David has to say in full here.