Participation in the programme of continuous improvement has been a condition of the AHSP grant funding since November 2022. Scotland’s Housing Network’s DVfM service is the only service that meets the mandatory value for money component. This service is available for SHN members (included in their membership subscription) and non-members (for an additional fee).

This report looked at 52 projects from 22 unique landlords. Nine local authorities submitted DVfM data during 2023/24 concerning 27 projects, amounting to 620 units, while 13 RSLs submitted data about 25 projects delivering 643 units.

The findings of the report show us that local authority-led projects were this year smaller than those led by RSLs. Despite this, the median project size for LAs was larger than that for RSLs. The biggest project completed during 2023/24 was led by an RSL.

In terms of property sizes, two and three-apartment homes (i.e. 1 and 2 bedrooms) were the most common, accounting for around 77.5% of all properties reported to SHN as completed during 2023/24. Only a small proportion of units were delivered which were either one apartment (about 2% of all units) or 5 or more apartments (about 3% of units)

Most development is taking place in areas not classified as rural, with more than 68% of new build units in ‘large urban’ or ‘other urban’ areas, and only one-fifth in areas classified as ‘Rural Scotland’

The average gross cost per unit was around £196,600 – a significant increase on the figure of £166,500 reported last year. 10 projects had gross costs per unit of greater than £200,000. Quarterly averages show an upward trajectory with regard to gross costs, gross costs (3pe) and works costs per unit.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, an analysis of costs per unit again suggests that developments in rural geographies, those with higher proportions of specialist provision housing stock and smaller projects tended to be more expensive on a per unit basis.

Andrea Finkel-Gates, Scotland’s Housing Network CEO, said: “It will come as no surprise to landlords across the sector that development costs continue to rise, an average increase of almost 18% on the previous year (more in some instances). We support calls from all our partners for the Scottish Government to reinstate the AHSP funding to previous levels, and to consider the increasing costs of developing.”

The full report can be accessed from Scotland’s Housing Network’s website.