Social Housing Stock

Housing stock by tenure is published up to March 2023. However, more recent data on social housing stock is available, up to March 2024.

The total social sector housing stock increased by 6,102 reaching 633,030 dwellings as of 31st March 2024. There were 325,477 local authority dwellings and 307,553 housing association dwellings as of 31st March 2024.

As of March 2024, local authorities own 51% of the social sector stock, with housing associations owning 49%. This compares local authorities owning 82% in 1999. Total social sector stock has been increasing steadily since 2018 while the proportion of housing association to local authority dwellings has stayed roughly the same. This is illustrated in Chart 5.

Local authority housing numbers declined from the 1980s but began stabilising in the 2010s. The drops in local authority housing stock since the 1980s can be explained by three main factors: tenants buying homes under Right to Buy, stock transfers to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), and a decrease in new local authority builds. These factors have become less significant over time, particularly as the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014, included a provision to end Right to Buy for new applications in July 2016. Further details of previous trends in Right to Buy sales are available in the Sales of Social Sector Housing Excel web tables.

Chart 5: Total social sector stock has been increasing steadily since 2018 while the proportion of housing association to local authority dwellings has stayed roughly the same.