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2. Key Points
The main points are:
- There will be an estimated 322,900 council houses in Scotland on 30 September 2008.
- The 290,000 reduction in council housing stock in the 11 years between 30 September 1997 and 30 September 2008 is mainly due to a combination of around 150,000 sales to sitting tenants, around 100,000 houses transferred to housing associations and around 40,000 demolitions.
- Average council rent in 2008-09 is £50.51 per week, ranging from £39.40 per week in Moray to £64.44 in Edinburgh.
- Since 1997-98 council rents have increased by around 1% per year in real terms - i.e. above the Retail Prices Index.
- Average expenditure on management and maintenance is expected to be £1,766 per house, an increase of 5.5% or £92 per house over 2007-08.
- Within this total, supervision and management costs are expected to be £673 per house in 2008-09, an increase of £51 per house or 8.2% over 2007-08; and
- Repairs and maintenance costs are expected to be £1,093 per house in 2008-09, an increase of £41 per house or 3.9% over 2007-08.
- Councils project that they will lose around £18 million due to voids in 2008-09. This represents 2.1% of standard rent income and is at about the same level as last year.
- Rent arrears at 31 March 2008 represented 4.3% of standard rental income. The scale of rent arrears varies widely between councils, from an estimated 1.1% of standard rental income in West Lothian at 31 March 2008 to 9.5% of standard rental income in Aberdeen City.
- Housing debt in Scotland is expected to increase by 5.0% in the year to March 2009.
- Shetland and Edinburgh continue to have the highest amount of debt - £26,857 per house and £14,517 respectively at 31 March 2009, Orkney continues to debt free, and of the remaining councils Falkirk has the lowest debt per house - £1,969 per house.
- Local authorities' housing capital expenditure is projected to total £505.7 million in 2008-09, an increase of £51.9 million (11.4% increase) over 2007-08. The very large increase in Midlothian's capital expenditure (from £8.7 million in 2005-06 to a planned £44.5 million in 2008-09 mainly reflects the council's new house building programme.
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