Scottish Government

3. Housing

Figure 3.1 shows the tenure breakdown of Scotland's housing. Owner-occupation - either owned outright or buying with a mortgage - accounts for two-thirds (66%) of tenure, while 22% of households rent from a social landlord and 10% rent from a private landlord.

Figure 3.1: Tenure of household

2007 data, Households (base: 13408)

Two-thirds (66%) of single parent families live in rented accommodation compared with around a quarter of other families with children (23% of small families and 25% of large families) (Table 3.1). Households that contain at least one pensioner more often own their home outright than any other types of households.

Table 3.1: Tenure of household by household type

Column percentages, 2007 data, Households

Renting is most common in cities and towns, particularly in large urban areas where 37% of households live in rented accommodation (Table 3.2). In remote rural areas almost half (47%) of households own their own home outright, more than in any other type of area.

Table 3.2: Tenure of household by urban/rural classification

Column percentages, 2007 data, Households