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1. What are the key trends?

1.1 What are the changes in household numbers?

• In 2013, there were 2.4 million households in Scotland, an increase of around 171,000 households (eight per cent) over the last 10 years.
• There were 2.5 million dwellings, including 72,000 vacant dwellings and 35,000 second homes. The number of dwellings is up by 171,000 (seven per cent) over the last 10 years.
• The number of households in Scotland grows every year. However, the rate of growth was increasing in the lead up to the economic downturn which began in 2007/8, but since then, the annual increase has fallen.
• Between 2002 and 2008, before the economic downturn began, there was an average increase of 20,500 households per year. Between 2008 and 2013, the average yearly increase has been lower, at 13,800.
• In 2013, for the first time since the downturn began, the annual increase in the number of households grew, showing an increase of 14,600 (0.6 per cent, Figure 1). However, this is not due to growth in the number of dwellings. Instead, it is due to an apparent drop in the number of second homes and empty properties. This drop is mainly due to councils re-classifying which properties were classed as being long-term empty or second homes, due to Council Tax changes (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Annual increase in the number of households in Scotland between 2001 and 2013

Figure 2: Vacant dwellings and second homes in Scotland, combined, 2005 to 2013

1.2 What are the changes in vacant dwellings and second homes?

• In an effort to encourage the availability of housing to meet the needs of a growing population¹, councils across Scotland have been making efforts to bring vacant properties back into use.
• The Scottish Government has introduced new regulations² which allow councils to increase the Council Tax charges on certain long-term empty properties. As a result of this, some councils have carried out reviews of which properties are classified as being vacant or second homes, and this has led to changes in the figures. The 2013 data shows the figure dropping as a result.
• Across Scotland, 2.8 per cent of dwellings are vacant and 1.4 per cent are second homes. The number of vacant dwellings and second homes fell by 3,800 (3.4 per cent) over the last year. The Council areas with the biggest changes had all carried out re-classification exercises, which affected their figures. This makes it difficult to determine how much of the change was due to homes being brought back into use.
• In the coming years, more councils are likely to follow suit and also carry out their own re-classifications and review of the charges applied. Future household estimates publications will continue to monitor any changes.
• Remote rural areas continue to have the highest percentage of dwellings that are vacant and second homes (4.9 and 6.8 per cent respectively, compared to 2.6 and 0.9 per cent in large urban areas). The proportion of vacant dwellings is generally higher in more deprived areas (4.1 per cent in the most deprived areas compared to 1.6 per cent in the least deprived areas).

1.3 Other contributing factors to the changes in household numbers

• People are living in smaller households than in the past. Over the last 50 years, the number of one-person households has gone from being the least prevalent household type, to the most prevalent type, and there are fewer large households. This has led to an increase in the number of households and a fall in average household size. However, over recent years, this trend has been slowing down (Figure 3).

  Figure 3: Change in household types in Scotland, 1961 to 2011

  
• The formation of new households is also affected by the availability of housing. New housing contruction has fallen since the economic downturn which began in 2007/8, which also constrained mortgage and labour markets^3,4,5 .
• The population of Scotland increased by five per cent in the last decade⁶. The changes in household composition have led to a larger increase in the number of households over the same period (by eight per cent).

1.4 What links are there with deprivation?

• More deprived areas tend to have a higher density of housing, more flats, and more dwellings in the lower value Council Tax bands.
• More deprived areas generally contain more households with just one adult (with or without children). This ranges from over half of all households being of this type in the 10 per cent most deprived areas, to just over a quarter of households in the least deprived areas. In contrast, there are more two-adult households (where there is the potential for both adults to be earning), in the less deprived areas (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Estimates of the percentage of households by household type by level of deprivation, Scotland, in 2012⁷

Footnotes

1. Population estimates and projections for Scotland are available on the NRS website.
2. Information on legislation is available at: www.legislation.gov.uk.
3. Scottish Government (SG) (2013): Housing Statistics for Scotland - New House Building and associated statistics are available on the SG website.
4. Office for National Statistics (2013): Output in the Construction Industry, April 2014 and New Orders Q1 2014 (ONS website).
5. Scottish Government (2013): Gross Domestic Product 4th Quarter 2013 (available on their website).
6. Release 1A from Scotland's Census 2011, Table 1: Census Day population estimates, 1911 - 2011 is available on the Scotland’s Census website.
7. Note: These figures refer to the 10% most and least deprived areas, according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), and as recorded in the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) (Section 4.8) (both available on the Scottish Government website. Figures may not sum to 100% because of rounding.

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