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Housing Trends in Scotland: Quarter Ending 31 March 2003
Notes and Definitions
SOURCES
Most of the figures are compiled by the Scottish Executive, which collects the data from Local Authorities, Housing Associations and Scottish Homes.
The source of information is the Scottish Executive Housing Statistics Branch, unless otherwise stated at the foot of tables or charts.
AREA COVERED
Except where otherwise stated, all tables relate to Scotland.
DWELLINGS
A dwelling is a building or any part of a building which forms a separate and self-contained set of premises designed to be occupied by a family or, in some cases, groups of individuals (such as hostels or cluster flats).
Temporary dwellings are excluded.
TENURES
Private Sector . This includes dwellings owned by private landlords, whether persons or companies, and owner-occupiers.
Housing Associations. These are societies, bodies of trustees, or companies established for the purpose of providing housing accommodation on a non-profit making basis. They also provide housing for special groups such as the aged, disabled, single persons, or housing on a mutual or self-build basis. In recent years, associations have extended their activities into provision of low cost housing for home ownership. In addition, registered associations (i.e. those registered with Scottish Homes) are heavily engaged in the regeneration of inner city areas through both rehabilitation and new building.
Non-registered associations are, in the main, now operating on a management basis only.
New Towns. In Scotland, New Town Development Corporations were established under the New Towns Acts for the purpose of laying out and developing New Towns. The New Towns in each region, with their designation and wind-up dates, are as follows:
Cumbernauld, Strathclyde Region (est. December 1955): Wound-up 31 December 1996. 1,275 houses were transferred to North Lanarkshire Council and 2,200 houses were transferred to Scottish Homes on 30 September 1996.
East Kilbride, Strathclyde Region (est. May 1947): Wound-up 31 December 1995. 7,834 houses were transferred to East Kilbride District Council (now South Lanarkshire Council) at the end of November 1995.
Glenrothes, Fife Region (est. June 1948): Wound-up 31 December 1995. 4,783 houses and 2,700 garages were transferred to Kirkcaldy District Council (now Fife Council) on 28 September 1995.
Irvine, Strathclyde Region (est. November 1966): Wound-up 31 December 1996. 1,978 houses were transferred to North Ayrshire Council and 715 houses were transferred to Irvine Housing Association on 29 November 1996.
Livingston, Lothian Region (est. April 1962): Wound-up 31 December 1996. 3,651 houses were transferred to West Lothian Council on 1 November 1996. 1,516 houses were transferred to Almond Housing Association on 29 October 1996, and 66 sheltered houses were transferred to Bield Housing Association on 21 October 1996.
Communities Scotland. This is an executive agency that replaced Scottish Homes on 1 November 2001. Communities Scotland works on behalf of Ministers to promote social justice and tackle exclusion through the delivery of sustainable community regeneration.
Government Departments. The figures relate to dwellings provided or authorised by Government Departments for the families of police, prison staff, the armed forces, and certain other services.
KEY INDICATORS ( Table 1)
Dwellings allocated by local authorities. Number of applicants allocated houses by local authorities, including non-local authority stock to which the local authority has allocation rights.
New lets . Number of houses allocated to waiting list applicants and to other applicants such as those housed under the National Mobility Scheme or under Part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987. Other transfers and exchanges are not included in this percentage.
Lets to homeless. Number of houses allocated to applicants under Part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987. These figures are also included in new lets.
STOCK ESTIMATES BY TENURE ( Table 2)
Estimates of the total dwelling stock from 1991 onwards are based on the 1991 Census, which included a count of the number of dwellings. The tenure at 1991 was derived using a method that combined information from the Census, the Post Census Survey of Vacant Dwellings, and public authorities' counts of their own stock.
This 1991 baseline is updated each year using information on new house building, conversion of property to housing use, and demolitions (collected on returns submitted to the Scottish Executive), together with public authorities' counts of their own stock, and Scottish Homes' count of housing association stock.
Estimates of the dwelling stock by tenure from Censuses require additional assumptions about tenure of dwellings where no usual residents were present on Census night and about whom the information on tenure was not collected directly at the time. They are therefore liable to wider margins of error than the estimates of total stock.
Updating the baseline uses information on stock change by tenure, such as gains from new building and conversion, and losses through demolition. This is collected through Scottish Executive returns. Transfers of stock from one sector to another must also be taken into account, for example sales of public authority dwellings to tenants (owner occupiers).
Most of this information on stock transfers is also provided directly on returns to the Scottish Executive. However, no regular information is available on transfers from the private rented sector into owner occupation, and no transfer has been assumed.
FINANCIAL KEY INDICATORS ( Table 4)
Housing finance figures for capital and current expenditure out-turn were changed from net to gross terms in 1988 with the introduction of the new planning total (elements of public expenditure for which central government is responsible). In previous editions of this bulletin, the figures prior to 1988 that were originally shown in net terms had since been revised and were shown in gross terms. These figures included expenditure on housing by local authorities, New Towns and Scottish Homes.
Housing Tender Price Index. The Housing Tender Price Index, compiled by the Scottish Executive Building Division, measures the overall change in contractors' pricing levels in Scottish public sector housing projects. It is based on successful tenders for 1-4 storey housing contracts throughout mainland Scotland. Using a standard sampling methodology, items to a minimum value of 25 per cent of each trade are selected from Bills of Quantities, are compared with a predetermined price base, and are weighted according to the proportionate value of the trade to the total Bill. The index figure is derived from the arithmetic mean of each quarter's sample. Tenders are allocated to the quarter in which the tender date falls.
Any enquiries about the index should be addressed to the Scottish Executive Building Division, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ (telephone 0131 244 7482).
MORTGAGE LENDERS ( Table 5)
The operation and analysis of the 5 per cent sample Survey of Mortgage Lenders is described in an article by Bob Pannell and David Champion in Housing Finance, No. 16, November 1992.
The figures relate to a sample of mortgages advanced for the purchase of single dwellings that are to be used wholly or partly for owner occupation. The sample size for Scotland is between 1,500 and 2,000 cases per year. The dwelling prices index is a weighted average of prices of a standard collection of dwellings. The indices are adjusted for changes in the mix of properties mortgaged to lenders. The series based on building society lending has been terminated, and a series based on a sample of mortgage completions by all types of lender, with 1993 = 100, is now in use. This series contains data back to 1993. The index is based on a sample of completions as notified by a wide rage of mortgage lenders throughout the UK. Details of the methods by which the indices were constructed were published in Economic Trends, No. 348, October 1982.
Average income details are for mortgage loan purposes as recorded by the Scottish mortgage lenders.
HOUSE BUILDING ( Tables 6-8)
Started. A dwelling is regarded as started on the date that work begins on the foundations of the block of which the dwelling will form a part, and not on the date when site preparations begin. Communities Scotland no longer engages in new building.
Completed. A dwelling is completed when it is ready for occupation, whether in fact occupied or not. If a dwelling is transferred to another agency after completion it is considered to have been completed by the first agency.
PUBLIC AUTHORITY HOUSE SALES ( Tables 9-12)
Part III of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended, gives most Scottish secure tenants the right to buy their homes, provided they are eligible and their home is not exempt. The 'applications to sitting tenants' figures in all tables concerning public authority house sales include right-to-buy, rent-to-mortgage, and voluntary sales.
For right to buy sales, the selling price is determined by the market value of the property less a discount (as laid down in section 62 of the Act). In turn, the level of discount is heavily reliant upon when the pre-purchase tenancy commenced, with those which started before 30 September 2002 coming under older conditions, while those dating from on or after this date being subject to the modernised right to buy terms. Under the older conditions, the minimum discount in respect of a house is 32% after two years, plus an additional 1% for each year, up to a maximum discount of 60%. For flats, the minimum discount is 44% of the market value, plus an additional 2% for each year beyond two years occupation by the tenant, up to a maximum discount of 70%. Under the modernised right to buy, there is a single discount structure for all property types which starts at 20% of market value after the initial five-year qualifying period and then increases by 1% a year up to a maximum of 35% or 15,000, whichever is lower. Applications to purchase may include an element of the 'cost floor', which is covered by section 62(6A) of the 1987 Act and a specific determination. Under the 'cost floor' rules, a discount may be restricted where the price, taking into account the discount to which the tenant is entitled, is less than the admissible costs incurred in providing, improving or maintaining the house over a period broadly 10 years prior to the application to purchase being submitted.
Houses owned by non-charitable housing associations came within the right to buy legislation in January 1987. For voluntary sales, the Secretary of State has issued a general consent permitting discounts of 30% for houses and 40% for flats, plus an additional 1% and 2% respectively for houses and flats for each year of tenancy up to maximum levels of 60% and 70%.
Rent to Mortgage sales were first introduced as a pilot scheme in October 1989 for tenants of Communities Scotland and the New Town Development Corporations. From 1 April 1991 this was extended to local authority tenants. A new statutory Rent to Mortgage Scheme for all public authority tenants was introduced on 27 September 1993 via the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. However, the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 repealed the Rent to Mortgage Scheme with effect from 30 September 2002. While this step will not effect people already buying through this mechanism, no more applications can be accepted from the 30 September date.
HOUSING ASSOCIATION SALES ( Table 12)
In 1994 Communities Scotland revised the classification of and the figures provided for housing association sales to include all such sales. The following terms are included in Table 12:
VOLUNTARY: Voluntary sales to sitting tenants
OPEN MARKET: Dwellings sold on the open market
SHARED OWNERSHIP: Outright (100%) Sales of Shared Ownership dwellings. Figures not available before 1991-92.
OTHER SALES: This includes sales of co-ownership dwellings.
PUBLIC SECTOR VACANT STOCK ( TABLE 16)
Vacant dwellings may be unoccupied for a number of reasons. Dwellings may be vacant as part of a planned disposal programme, or during major modernisation or repair work; or they may be in areas of low demand.
All vacant dwellings not in one of those categories are considered to be in high/medium demand areas.
HOUSES IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION ( TABLES 17, 18 AND 19)
This is a new return that was introduced in order to monitor the new mandatory licensing scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) that came into force on 1 October 2000.
For the purposes of this return, an HMO is a building or part of a building that forms a separate and self-contained set of premises and is used as shared accommodation. An HMO includes a building containing housing units that, although otherwise separate, share use of a sanitary convenience, personal washing facilities or cooking facilities.
HMOs may include flats, bedsits, lodgings, bed and breakfast accommodation and other communal accommodation such as student residences and hostels. However, this does not mean that all dwellings within each category will necessarily constitute an HMO. This will depend on occupancy and whether the living units have their own bathroom and kitchen facilities or not.
To be classified as a licensable HMO, the accommodation must be the "only or principle residence" of a specified number of people who are not members of either the same family or of one or other of two families. The HMO licensing scheme covers both official leasing and other less conventional forms of arrangement. The occupancy threshold requiring a licence from 1 October 2000 to 30 September 2001 is six or more people. It will reduce annually until it reaches its minimum level of three or more.
Local authority owned HMOs are included in the figures. Accommodation covered by the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, along with a small number of properties in other categories, is exempted from HMO licensing and does not appear in these figures.
IMPROVEMENTS ( Table 28)
Local Authorities. Included under this heading is the improvement of subsidised and non-subsidised houses. The latter involves both rehabilitation improvements and conversions, whereas the former involves modernisation work.
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