Fall In Home Ownership

More houses must be built to to reverse a decline in home ownership in Scotland.

According to the Scottish Household Survey, the number of homeowners has dropped for the 5th year in a row, but numbers renting both socially and privately have gone up. Over 11,000 households were on the council house waiting list in Fife last year, while only around 2000 new lets were available.

Alan Stokes, SFHA Policy Lead, said: "It is highly likely that this decline in the social rented sector is as a result of people being driven into the private sector due to the lack of affordable social housing.

"While we are working with our members and the Scottish Government to increase the amount of social housing – and we acknowledge that the government is on track to meet its current target – we still need to be building a significantly higher number of homes than are currently being built. Not only will this reduce the housing waiting lists, and provide homes for some of Scotland’s poorest and most vulnerable people, it will also reduce the Housing Benefit bill as private sector rents are much higher than social rents.

"Investing in housing also has many economic benefits, and good quality housing can improve a person’s health and life chances."

Director of the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland, Annie Mauger, said: "We recognise the huge efforts the Scottish Government has made to prioritise investment in housing over the lifetime of this Parliament to ensure everyone has access to a secure roof over their heads. Nonetheless, these latest figures confirm that rates of home ownership have declined over the past five years and show a longer term decline in the proportion of Scottish households living in social rented accommodation. 

"This is coupled with a corresponding rise in those in private rented housing. At the same time, 160,000 households across Scotland remain on the waiting list for social housing. All of these trends are cause for concern and clear symptoms of an overall shortage in housing supply. To reverse them, the first priority must remain to build more housing across all tenures."