More than 4,000 new council houses have been built north of the border in the last five years.
First Minister Alex Salmond said funding released by the Scottish Government since 2009 to encourage construction had helped provide a “huge boost” to the economy.
More than £135million has been invested through the Council House Build Programme to provide affordable housing.
Official figures show 116 homes have so far been built in Aberdeen, 151 in Aberdeenshire, 202 in Moray and 221 in Highland.
Another 118 properties have been built in Orkney and 20 in Shetland.
Mr Salmond said the government planned to spend more than £1.7billion to provide 30,000 affordable homes by 2016 – supporting an estimated 8,000 jobs each year.
The announcement was welcomed by Graeme Brown, director of housing charity Shelter Scotland.
However, he said at least 10,000 new socially rented homes were needed every year in order to meet the backlog and increased demand.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Alex Neil yesterday announced that 500 new modern apprentices will be recruited across the NHS in Scotland over the next three years.
Roles will include administration, IT, facilities management and support of clinical staff.