Commenting on the latest Housing Statistics for Scotland
Scottish Building Federation Chief Executive Michael Levack said: “According to
these newest figures, new home completions have fallen by a further 3% in the
last financial year and by 38% since 2007-08.
“Overall, the construction of new homes in Scotland
is at its lowest ebb since current records began some 16 years ago. Even more
dramatically, the number of new homes being completed by the private sector has
dropped 6% during the 12 months to March and by 54% compared to the 12 months
to March 2008.
“As a critical sector of the Scottish construction industry
and with the demand for new homes continuing to rise, it’s genuinely
frightening to see housebuilding numbers continuing to slide as they currently
are. The housing sector urgently needs an injection of additional direct capital
investment to help nurse it back to life. If we can’t start increasing the
number of new homes we build, we should at the very least be creating far
greater incentives for owners to repair and maintain their existing properties
so as to improve our building stock and help construction firms retain jobs and
capacity during these difficult times.”
