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 Empty homes at 3.4% of total dwelling stock
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Monday, May 24, 2004 |
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New research by Halifax shows that across Great Britain there are around 860,000 empty homes or 3.4% of the total dwelling stock.
An empty home is classified as a dwelling, which is vacant either because it is between occupants, undergoing modernisation, in disrepair or awaiting demolition. Second homes and holiday homes are not included as empty homes.
To help raise awareness of empty homes and the sources of help available to prospective purchasers, Halifax is distributing an empty homes fact sheet through its 1100 branches and also extending its ‘no fee 1 per cent cash-back’ mortgage product. The firm says the1 per cent cash-back will help homebuyers to reduce the costs of bringing an empty property back into the housing stock.
Key findings of the research are:
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The most empty homes are in Birmingham (17,490), Liverpool (15,692) and Manchester (14,017). As a proportion of the local dwelling stock the most empty homes are in Burnley (7.7%) and Liverpool (7.6%) while the lowest proportion of empty homes are on the Isles of Scilly (0.2%), Berwick-upon-Tweed (0.3%) and Cambridge (0.4%).
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Regionally the North West has the most empty homes (135,106), close to 5% of its dwelling stock. The North West alone accounts for 16% of all vacant dwellings in Great Britain.
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The least empty homes are in the South East and the East of England 2.3% and 2.7% of their dwelling stocks respectively are vacant. Despite a chronic housing shortage, London has close to 100,000 vacant dwellings, around 3% of its total dwelling stock.
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Areas with a high number of empty homes tend to suffer from urban deprivation 4 of the 5 most deprived areas also have the highest proportion of empty homes in England. At the same time 70% of English areas with more than 5% of their dwelling stock empty fall into the 95 most deprived areas in England (i.e the top 25% of deprived areas).
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House prices are lower in areas with an above average number of empty homes Eighty percent of local authority areas with more than 5% of their dwelling stock empty have house prices below the regional average. House prices in areas with a significant amount of empty homes were close to 30% below the average house price for the UK.
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The majority of empty homes (84%) are privately owned in England, the only area for which data is available. In areas with above average numbers of empty homes, many public sector properties are also vacant. For example, in Liverpool more than 40% of empty dwellings are publicly owned.
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Private sector homes usually stay empty for less than six months Across England only 1.8% of private sector dwellings were unoccupied for more than six months. However, several areas, including Manchester, Pendle and Burnley had more than 5% of the private sector dwelling stock empty for more than six months.
Tim Crawford, Group Economist at Halifax, commented:
"Empty homes and urban deprivation go hand in hand. Government policy, in our view, needs to tackle urban blight and the empty homes problem at the same time. Making an area more attractive to live in should significantly reduce the number of empty homes there."
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No of Vacant Dwellings |
Total No of Dwellings |
% of Dwellings Vacant |
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North West |
135,106 |
3,007,490 |
4.5% |
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Wales |
51,252 |
1,275,816 |
4.0% |
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Yorkshire & the Humber |
87,855 |
2,191,161 |
4.0% |
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North East |
44,349 |
1,138,290 |
3.9% |
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Scotland |
87,394 |
2,308,939 |
3.8% |
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South West |
75,374 |
2,213,607 |
3.4% |
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West Midlands |
74,312 |
2,259,725 |
3.3% |
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London |
99,781 |
3,144,279 |
3.2% |
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East Midlands |
57,835 |
1,832,292 |
3.2% |
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East of England |
63,418 |
2,351,049 |
2.7% |
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South East |
80,690 |
3,436,939 |
2.3% |
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Total |
857,366 |
25,159,587 |
3.4% |
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Source: ODPM, Office of National Statistics, General Register office for Scotland |
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