Homes for Scotland promotes two senior staff as Scottish housing starts fall 4%

Homes for Scotland (HFS) has promoted David Raine to Head of Policy Development and David Petrie to Senior External Affairs Manager, two senior roles within the sector body's Executive Team, it announced on 29 October.

HFS represents 200 member organisations and says its key objective is to deliver more homes for Scotland. Jane Wood, HFS Chief Executive, said the promotions recognised the contributions both men make to the body at a time of regulatory and delivery challenges for homebuilders.

Raine said his policy work includes putting proposals to the Scottish Government on improving the First Homes Fund, and representing members' concerns in responses to the recent Building Safety Levy and Scottish Equivalent Standard consultations.

"With the latest housing starts and completions figures confirming a third consecutive year of decline in starts, there are fundamental challenges to overcome if Scotland is to exit from the housing emergency," said David Raine, Head of Policy Development.

Petrie, in the external affairs role, pointed to the political calendar. "With a new intake of MSPs and Local Authority elections taking place next year, there are significant opportunities to strengthen relationships across the political landscape," said David Petrie, Senior External Affairs Manager.

The starts figures

Scottish Government statistics show 14,955 new homes were started and 17,268 completed across the social and private sectors in 2025-26. All-sector starts fell 4% and completions fell 10% compared with 2024-25, according to the Scottish Government, and private sector starts were the lowest since 2012-13.

Sector, 2025-26	Homes started
Private sector	11,018
Social sector	3,937

By March 2026, 35,368 homes had been delivered towards the Scottish Government's target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, the government said.

HFS had already set out its position on the calendar-year data in March 2026, when it said official figures showed 17,336 completions and 14,999 starts across all sectors in 2025, annual falls of 13% and 6%. HFS said private sector starts in 2025 were the lowest since 2013 and social sector starts the lowest since records began. Wood said at the time that the decline in starts would mean fewer completions in later years unless the planning system released more effective land more quickly.

The policy agenda

The Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 13 May 2026. The Scottish Government said it intends to introduce the levy in April 2028 to give industry time to prepare, and expects it to raise between £360m and £450m over its 15-year period to help fund its Cladding Remediation Programme. A technical consultation on how the levy will operate closed on 9 October 2026.

The Stage 2 consultation on the Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard ran from 24 July to 16 October 2026. The Scottish Government said it sought views on proposed energy and environmental performance targets for the new standard and an enhanced compliance process, and that it will amend the implementation date in regulations to Autumn 2029.

The First Homes Fund, a shared-equity scheme, opened to applications on 24 June 2026. The Scottish Government said it offers first-time buyers a £10,000 contribution towards a deposit on a property valued at up to £300,000, and that about 50,000 households are expected to benefit from the £500m scheme over the course of this Parliament.

HFS welcomed the launch the following day, describing support for first-time buyers as a key election ask. Wood said supporting first-time buyers was essential to address housing need affecting 693,000 households and to stimulate wider growth.

Raine said HFS is now working on proposals to the Scottish Government for improving the fund. Petrie said he would build on HFS's existing work ahead of the local authority elections next year.