It’s been a common request to get an understanding of local authority housing stock alongside the regular property data. I’ve been able to source some datasets and work through them to extract something meaningful. While I do have access to more information than is shown here, I’ve deliberately limited what’s been published for now, as I’m sceptical about parts of the data and how accurate some of it is.

So, what’s been added?

Scotland

Somewhat surprisingly, more detailed data is available for Scotland than for England, or more accurately, it has better depth. The key data I have included for now is:

• Total housing stock across Scotland
• Split by local authority

There are important caveats. Official data does not track housing associations. This creates gaps where housing stock was transferred out of local authority control. Glasgow is the most obvious example, having transferred its housing stock to housing associations in the 2000s, meaning I can’t show meaningful figures for Glasgow or a small number of other areas.

There are also anomalies in the data. For example, Fife combined four-in-a-block properties with tenements in 2008, then reverted the classification in 2009. This makes the chart look odd for that period. Where charts look unusual, this reflects how the data is presented, not an interpretation issue on my side.

Overall, though, it provides a reasonably solid view of the position in Scotland.

England

There is also a large amount of data available for England, although it is structured using coded fields rather than human-readable column names. I’ve extracted the main indicators to give a clear, high-level view. There is additional data that could be explored, but for now, it would likely add complexity without much benefit.

The data shown includes:

• Total housing stock across England
• Split by region
• New-build additions by region
• Acquisitions by region

Taken together, this gives a decent overview of the housing stock position.

Data Summary

Unsurprisingly, the data shows an overall decline in local authority housing stock. That said, there has been some growth in more recent years.

In Scotland, the right to buy ended in 2016. From that point onwards, housing stock levels begin to rise, which is not unexpected. In England, where the right to buy remains in place, the overall trend continues downward, with a small number of regional exceptions.

For both Scotland and England, I’ve shown the change between the first and most recent years of available data, and also isolated the last five years to give a clearer sense of where stock levels may be stabilising or increasing in certain areas.

Hopefully, this helps answer the questions raised by those who asked for it.

I have a new link to the menu at the top called Council Housing.