Long-term empty homes total tops 300,000

More than 300,000 homes have been sitting empty in England for at least six months, with an estimated market value of almost £90billion.

New figures from the House Buyer Bureau show there are 754,264 vacant homes, with 303,185 or 40.2%, classed as long-term vacant.

This is an estimated £88.6bn worth of residential property currently sitting unused.

Chris Hodgkinson, MD at House Buyer Bureau (pictured), says: “It’s quite remarkable that we’re constantly talking about the need to build hundreds of thousands of additional homes when more than 300,000 existing properties have already been sitting empty for over six months.

“Of course, there’s no single reason why a property remains vacant, and not every empty home can simply be put back into use overnight.

“Building more homes remains absolutely essential, but we also need to make better use of the housing stock we already have.”

London has the highest estimated value of long-term empty housing stock of any region. There are 47,287 long-term vacant homes across the capital, accounting for 45% of London’s 105,138 vacant properties.

With the average London home valued at £544,814, House Buyer Bureau estimates that the capital’s long-term vacant housing stock is worth almost £25.8bn.

Kensington and Chelsea has 2,030 long-term vacant homes, representing 59.7% of all vacant properties within the borough.

And Westminster has 2,279 long-term vacant properties, equivalent to 61.2% of its vacant housing stock, with an estimated combined value of £1.91bn.

Outside London, Birmingham has 7,060 homes having remained vacant for more than six months. Based on the city’s average house price, this equates to an estimated £1.64bn worth of long-term vacant housing.