Over £43Bn worth of empty homes in England

Latest empty homes figures from DCLG highlights housing issues with over £43Bn of homes not occupied in England.

Figures from DCLG, with national, regional and London analysis, revealed that there are 200,145 long-term homes that are unoccupied in England, with a value of over £43Bn.

In London, there were 19,845 homes sitting empty for over six months in 2016 – a total of £9.4Bn worth of property, taking into account the average price in London of £474,704.

One of the wealthiest places in London is now the capital’s worst performer.

Kensington and Chelsea has London’s highest number of long-term vacant homes with 1,399 empty, up 8.5% on last year and a rise of 22.7% in a decade. Taking into account the Royal Borough’s unusually high average property prices, this would give the homes an estimated value of £2Bn.

Birmingham was the worst performer outside London with 4,397 properties sitting empty – up 13% in a year – with an estimated value of £956M. Bradford had the second highest figure at 3,944 (down 5% valued at £858M) followed by Liverpool on 3,449 (up 5% valued at £750M).

Over a decade, Manchester has seen the greatest fall, dropping 88% to 1,365.

Harrow saw the biggest rise in England with an astonishing 571% climb to 651 from 97 in 2015.

Blackburn has seen the biggest rise outside London with a 32% rise in a year with 1,563 vacant homes. Blackpool just crept into the worst 20 town/cities outside London but achieved the greatest percentage reduction outside London, falling 26% in a year.

West Yorkshire, which includes Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, has the highest number among Metropolitan Districts for the third year in a row (11,555). All six districts – including Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Merseyside, Tyne & Wear and South Yorkshire – have long-term vacant property totalling £11.7Bn in value.

London saw the same percentage fall to 6,581. Ealing had the most LA-owned vacants with 897 (down 14.7%), followed by Greenwich with 733 (down 27.7%) and Hackney with 600 (up 30%). The biggest percentage rise was in Kingston upon Thames which rose 144% to 88. Bexley and Richmond upon Thames both had zero.

Outside London, Sheffield had the most LA-owned vacants with 762 empty homes (up 0.7%), followed by Liverpool on 682 (down 30.5%) and Birmingham on 650 (down 21%).

In London, Hammersmith & Fulham had the second highest total number of empty homes up 42.7% to 381 in 12 months. Over a decade Harrow not only saw the biggest rise in one year, but the largest London rise in 10 years, up 76%.

The borough of Croydon had the second highest number of vacant homes at 1,216 (up 19% in a year) followed by Camden with 1,114 (down 2%).

In the capital, 19 boroughs saw falls while 14 saw rises on the previous year.

Dan Gandesha, CEO of property investment marketplace Property Partner, comments: “These figures lay bare the huge amount of housing stock lying empty across the country.

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