Households and Housing
Last Updated: May 2010
In mid-2009, there were 2.34 million households in Scotland – around 300,000 more than in 1991. The number of households in Scotland has been increasing by between 11,000 and 23,000 each year since 1991. The rate of growth has slowed in the past two years. Between 2008 and 2009, the increase in the number of households (13,200) was the lowest in the last five years.
Vacant dwellings and second homes
Across Scotland as a whole, 2.8 per cent of dwellings are vacant and 1.4 per cent are second homes, though there is wide variation across the country. Remote rural areas have the lowest percentage of dwellings which are occupied (88 per cent), with higher percentages of vacant dwellings (four per cent of all dwellings in these areas) and second homes (seven per cent), as shown below. The most deprived areas have the highest percentage of dwellings which are vacant (six per cent).
Vacant dwellings and second homes by urban/rural area, September 2009
Source: GROS Estimates of households and dwellings in Scotland, 2009
Type of housing
There are higher proportions of flats in urban areas, as shown below, and in more deprived areas. In contrast, there are higher proportions of detached houses in rural areas and in less deprived areas.
Dwelling type by urban/rural area, 2009
Source: GROS Estimates of households and dwellings in Scotland, 2009
One-adult households
38 per cent of dwellings in Scotland are entitled to a Council Tax discount as there is only one adult living there (either alone, with children, or with those ‘disregarded’ for Council Tax purposes). There are more one-adult households in urban areas (42 per cent in large urban areas compared to 29 per cent in remote rural areas) and in deprived areas (28 per cent in the least deprived areas compared to 52 per cent in the most deprived areas), as shown below.
One-adult households by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) decile, September 2009
Source: GROS Estimates of households and dwellings in Scotland, 2009