Action on Empty Homes publishes the most authoritative guide to empty homes data

Each year Action on Empty Homes analyses the Government’s official data on long-term empty homes, producing the only comprehensive analysis of this data.

Our data breakdowns below are based on Government data published by DLUHC on 13 November 2024.

See ‘Key Takeaways’, below, for the immediate headlines as of 13th November 2024.

We breakdown Council Taxbase data and here you can see an overview of where most homes are out of use in England

For an A to Z listing for all local council areas in England in 2024, see here

Key takeaways

Numbers of long-term empty homes rose yet again in 2024 by 4,000 to 265,061. Long-term empties are now at their highest level since 2011 (excepting 2020's pandemic-related data).

Second Homes are up 6.3% since 2023, now totalling 279,870

Regional Breakdown

What do we mean when we say there are over 1 million empty homes in England? How do we arrive at that figure?

You can check all of numbers - and indeed, get the most up-to-date versions - here. Click on Table 615 and go to the tab ‘All Vacants’.

  • To be classed as ‘long-term empty’ a home has to be liable for council tax and to have been unfurnished and not lived in for over 6 months. This figure is increasing all the time, but as at October 2023, it was 261,189.

  • These are homes which are empty, possibly long-term, but for which there is a reason we might all understand - for example, the owner is in care or has recently died and the property is held in probate, waiting to be transferred to a beneficiary. As at October 2023, these numbered over 200,000.

  • These are homes that haven’t been unfurnished and empty for longer than 6 months but which may well be long-term empties soon. As at March 2024, these numbered over 200,000.

  • These are homes which are not used as somebody’s primary residence. They may, in some circumstances, be used as weekend or holiday homes for their owners, but increasingly they are being used as investments, left to sit empty, accruing value for their owner. As at October 2023, there were over 263,000 of these.

  • These are an extension of second homes - homes not used as primary residences but used to make profit for their owners, short-let for several weeks or months of each year, blocking them from becoming anybody’s home. In many cases owners ‘flip’ to business rates which are often cheaper than paying council tax. As at March 2024, there were believed to be at least 85,000 of these such dwellings, flipped to business rates.

Each year Action on Empty Homes analyses the Government’s official data on long-term empty homes, producing the only comprehensive analysis of this data.

We also periodically publish a more detailed analysis of how the figures are derived and what this tells us. This is published as a report entitled ‘Empty Homes in England’

- the comprehensive 2019 edition including a broad discussion of data sources, consistency and recent trends can be downloaded