Housing in Scotland includes all forms of built habitation in what is now Scotland, from the earliest period of human occupation to the present day. The oldest house in Scotland dates from the Mesolithic era. In the Neolithic era settled farming led to the construction of the first stone houses. There is also evidence from this period of large timber halls. In the Bronze Age there were cellular round crannogs (built on artificial islands) and hillforts that enclosed large settlements. In the Iron Age cellular houses begin to be replaced on the northern isles by simple Atlantic roundhouses, substantial circular buildings with a drystone construction. The largest constructions that date from this era are the circular brochs and duns and wheelhouses.
After the First World War, the government responded to urban deprivation with a massive programme of council house building. Many were on greenfield sites of semi-detached homes or terraced cottages. In the 1930s, schemes tended to be more cheaply built, but a survey of 1936 found that almost half of Scotland's houses were still inadequate. There was also extensive private building of sub-urban "bungalow belts", particularly around Edinburgh. From the mid-twentieth century, public architecture became more utilitarian, as part of the impulse to produce a comprehensive welfare state and the influence of modernism. As the post-war desire for urban regeneration gained momentum it would focus on the tower block.
Another solution adopted in Scotland was the building of new towns like Glenrothes and Cumbernauld. Initially praised, they were receiving heavy criticism by the twenty-first century. The creation of Scottish Homes in 1989 increased the stock of private housing and reducing the role of the state sector and the direction of planning by local authorities. The 1980s saw the growth of speculative house building by developers, many introducing English brick and half-timbered vernacular styles to Scotland. Sales of council houses were also popular. There have been increasing attempts to preserve much of what survives from Scotland's architectural heritage and programmes of urban regeneration resulting in a return of resident populations to major urban centres. By 2011, there were 2.37 million households, of which over sixty per cent were owner occupied. The number of single occupied households increased since 2001, largely accounting for an increase in the number of households. The devolved Scottish government took a distinct perspective on homelessness, making accommodation a right for the voluntarily homeless.