Fewer houses were built in the year to June compared with the previous 12 months, the latest statistics show.
A total of 13,478 homes were built, down 14%.
The number of new-build starts is down 8% on the previous period, with construction of 12,897 houses beginning in the year to the end of June.
Both completions and new-build starts in the private sector declined with 5% fewer houses finished compared with the year to the end of June last year, down from 10,065 to 9,538, and with 11% fewer houses started.
The number of completions of social homes was down significantly and the number of starts dropped slightly.
In the year to the end of September, construction of 4,268 houses was completed, down 20% on the 5,328 completed in the previous 12-month period.
The number of social sector houses on which construction started was down 2%.
The Scottish Government attributed the difference to changes in its funding programmes, affecting trends and seasonal quarterly patterns for new-build approvals, it said.
Construction of 2,308 housing association homes were started in the year to September, down 7% on the 2,473 starts in the year before.
Housing association completions plunged 24%, from 4,093 to 3,116.
But in the first three-quarters of this year, construction starts on local authority homes was up 28% compared with the same nine months of 2012, from 839 to 1,078, although completions for that period were down 7% from 1,235 to 1,152.