Empty homes crisis as £212 billion worth of stock still sitting empty across England
Liverpool has the highest proportion of rental stock that’s lying vacant or abandoned with 10,769 vacant dwellings out of 229,863.
A whopping £212 billion worth of property – nearly three-quarters of a million could-be homes – are sitting empty throughout England, research from House Buyer Bureau reveals today.
The property purchasing specialist analysed the number of vacant dwellings up and down England and found that across the country 2.7% of the nation’s stock isn’t utilised.
WORST REGION
The North East is the worst region for vacant properties, where 3.3% of homes are empty, followed by the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, where 3.0% isn’t used.
Liverpool has the highest proportion of rental stock that’s lying vacant or abandoned (main picture) with 10,769 vacant dwellings out of 229,863, amounting to 4.7% of all stock.
Greater London makes use of the highest proportion of its stock, as just 2.4% of total dwellings are thought to be sat vacant.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the region with the most valuable set of vacant dwellings is Prime Central London with Kensington and Chelsea having 3,196 unused dwellings worth £4.3 billion.
And Camden, another area in the capital, has 4,498 empty dwellings are worth £3.73 billion.
In Birmingham there are 13,251 vacant dwellings worth £3.04 billion, while in Leeds 11,861 empty homes have an overall value of £2.85 billion.
PENALISE OWNERS
Individual councils can penalise owners for leaving their properties empty – the City of London, for example, gradually charges owners more council tax the longer they leave them empty.
Chris Hodgkinson, Managing Director of House Buyer Bureau, says: “The UK has long struggled to supply enough properties for renters and aspiring buyers and one factor that doesn’t help is that hundreds of thousands of homes are left picking up dust.
“The problem seems to be especially bad in the North, with Liverpool being one of the worst offenders while some valuable areas of London are also not being properly utilised.
“To improve the issue of vacant properties the government could sink money into another Empty Homes Scheme or do more to tax those owners who fail to rent out or use their homes.”
