The number of homes under construction has risen for the first time since 2006, figures reveal.
Work began on 13,829 properties in 2011/12, up 308 on the previous year. It is the first time the number of new housing starts has risen since 2006-07.
However, the total is significantly lower than the 28,434 houses started five years ago.
Housing Minister Margaret Burgess said: "I am encouraged with the increase in the number of houses started over the last year. However, we should be under no illusion that these remain very challenging times for the housebuilding industry."
The Scottish Government statistics show fewer houses were completed last year, at 15,940, down from the 16,376 completed in 2010/11.
The number of council houses finished is up 500 to 1114, but the number of council houses started has fallen to 798 from 1443 in 2010/11.
Fewer housing association homes were started and finished last year, with 4776 completed in 2011/12, down from 5111 the previous year. Associations started work on 2175 houses, less than half the 4656 total for 2010/11.
Fewer homes were built using cash from the Scottish Government's affordable housing supply programme, helping provide properties for low-cost rent or ownership, with 6882 completed in 2011/12.
This is down 5% on the previous year but is still the third highest amount since the scheme began.
Ms Burgess said: "The Scottish Government is doing all it can to support the industry and boost supply. We will deliver at least 30,000 affordable homes during the lifetime of the parliament, backed by investment of almost £860 million in the current three years.
"Just yesterday we announced an extra £40m package to deliver up to 1000 more affordable homes to meet the needs of people across Scotland. That is a central focus of our housing policies and a principle that underpins everything we do."
The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations criticised the drop in the number of housing association homes being built. Policy manager Susan Torrance said: "We need to be building social rented homes to meet government targets but we are very concerned that numbers are dropping as cuts to average grant levels bite home."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article