Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Mortgage Strategy. Read the original article for full details.
Long-term empty homes in England worth £88.6bn, research finds
More than 300,000 homes across England have been sitting empty for at least six months, with an estimated combined value of £88.6bn, according to research from House Buyer Bureau.
The firm's analysis of the latest available data found 754,264 vacant homes across England, of which 303,185 are classed as long-term vacant — meaning 40.2% of England's vacant housing stock has been empty for more than six months.
How the figures were calculated
House Buyer Bureau focused on properties liable for council tax that have been empty for more than six months and are not subject to specified exemptions. It then applied the latest average house price in each region to estimate the potential value of this unused housing stock.
The firm says that while building new homes remains central to tackling the housing shortage, the volume of existing homes sitting empty for prolonged periods points to another area of housing supply that cannot be ignored.
Regional and local picture
London has the highest estimated value of long-term vacant housing stock of any region. The capital has 47,287 long-term vacant homes — 45% of its 105,138 vacant properties — worth an estimated £25.8bn based on the average London home value of £544,814.
The South East ranks second, with 42,099 long-term vacant homes worth an estimated £16.1bn, followed by the East of England (32,123 properties, £10.9bn), the North West (42,606 properties, £9.4bn) and the South West (28,553 properties, £8.6bn).
At local authority level, some of the most valuable concentrations are in London. Kensington and Chelsea has 2,030 long-term vacant homes, 59.7% of all vacant properties in the borough, worth an estimated £2.55bn based on the borough's average house price of £1.256m. Westminster has 2,279 long-term vacant properties (61.2% of its vacant stock, £1.91bn), Camden has 2,059 (£1.66bn), Southwark has 2,543 (£1.47bn) and Lambeth has 2,280 (£1.24bn).
Outside London, Birmingham stands out with 7,060 homes vacant for more than six months, an estimated £1.64bn worth of long-term vacant housing.
What it means for the market
House Buyer Bureau managing director Chris Hodgkinson said it is remarkable that the focus is on building hundreds of thousands of additional homes when more than 300,000 existing properties have already been sitting empty for over six months. He noted there is no single reason why a property remains vacant and not every empty home can be put back into use overnight, but said anyone working in the property market knows how easily a home can become stuck in limbo — whether it requires significant work, forms part of an estate, has legal complications or simply proves difficult to sell.
Building more homes remains essential, he said, but better use also needs to be made of existing stock. Getting even a proportion of these long-term vacant properties back into circulation would provide additional homes without the need to build.
For letting agents and inventory clerks, the figures show the scale of dormant stock across England, and the potential volume of properties that could re-enter the market if brought back into use.
Source: Mortgage Strategy