Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 November 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the cost of building houses in rural areas compared with urban areas.
The cost of building new houses is largely dependent on local factors such as land price, site conditions, infrastructure, building materials, size of the development etc.
The Scottish Government recognises there are some significant differences in the housing market of rural Scotland and in 2016 we launched the Rural and Islands Housing Funds with the aim to increase the long term availability of affordable residential housing in rural Scotland. Our Affordable Housing Supply Programme benchmark subsidy levels also take into account the additional cost of constructing homes in rural, remote and island areas.
The review of the planning system highlighted the importance of infrastructure to unlock opportunities for development and housing supply and we will introduce a Planning Bill to improve the system of development planning. Housing delivery is an on-going priority for this review, with a focus on supporting innovation in delivery, including self and custom build and alternative methods of construction.
We have also set up the Housing Infrastructure Fund in 2016 to unblock strategically important housing sites with all types and tenures of housing eligible for support.
