A new report has revealed that while construction on almost 1,400 council houses began in the past year, housing supply saw an overall decrease.

According to official figures, some 1,383 council houses began being built in the year to June 2011 compared with 713 the previous year.

This forms part of a drive to help local authorities build 3,300 homes over three years.

New housing supply, on the other hand, fell by eight per cent between 2009-10 and 2010-11, from 18,629 to 17,112.

Keith Brown, the housing minister, commented: "As these figures show, Scotland's housing system continues to face major challenges.

"The economic downturn and restricted availability of mortgage finance continues to have a negative impact on private sector house-building activity, with both starts and completions still well below their pre-credit crunch levels."

He added, however, that local authorities are to be congratulated for the record numbers of council houses.