Over £212bn worth of empty housing across England

A new study by House Buyer Bureau has revealed that over 676,000 homes in England are empty – highlighting the scale of the UK empty housing epidemic. 

House Buyer Bureau has tracked the number of vacant dwellings up and down England, with the total value of empty housing standing at £212 billion. The North East ranks the worst for empty housing, with 3.3% of homes unoccupied. In the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, 3.0% of properties are vacant.

In London, just 2.4% of total dwellings are vacant. A different trend emerges in prime areas, with the City of London recording 4.5% of homes empty – amounting to 351 properties out of 7,775. The East of England, the South East and the South West, all of which leave 2.5% of their stock unused.

The now defunct Empty Homes Programme previously provided funds to social landlords and housing groups to bring empty homes back into use. Established by the coalition government, it ran between 2012 and 2015 before being scrapped after the Tories won a majority.

Due to the sheer quantity of empty homes, the third and fourth highest regions are outside of London. 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.

Tackling the epidemic of empty housing across the UK is an issue that has come to the fore, with the cost of living crisis and rising inflation impacting rents and property prices rise. Property guardianship offers an innovative solution to bring vacant housing back into use, with guardian housing providing property owners with a cost effective method to secure empty property and opening the door to affordable housing options for key workers and young professionals.