The latest Government data shows around 250,000 properties in England have stood empty for more than six months.

Another 200,000 empty homes are covered by exemptions and do not pay any council tax.

Total vacancy now stands at over 676,000

This figure excludes nearly 257,000 so-called 'second homes' or 'furnished empties' and over 70,000 second homes flipped to paying business rates as permanent short-lets.

This means that TODAY there are over 1 million homes in England without residents.

We analyse official data and research effective solutions, producing the only comprehensive analysis.

For the latest fact and figures click here

For media enquiries click here

Latest Publications

You can download our latest publications here. These include 'Pretty Vacant Manchester' our new examination of vacancy and housing policy in the city at the heart of the so-called Northern Powerhouse; 'Nobody's Home' our September 2021 report on London's housing crisis and its relationship to development and vacancy; and its predecessor 'Pretty Vacant'.  

A sister publication from our London wealth investment project, 'Homes Without Residents' (Jan 2020), looks at approaches to vacancy internationally.

In May 2021 we launched the second phase of our programme of work to support community-based approaches to bringing empty homes into use, a key resource is our Community Action on Empty Homes Toolkit

This built on the learning from our three-year programme of work with community housing providers, reported in 'Community action on empty homes - Using empty homes to regenerate communities' - which was published in May 2019.

The first phase report on this programme is also available, entitled 'Community-based approaches in areas with high levels of empty homes'.

Empty Homes in England

A comprehensive analysis of the empty homes problem in England:

This is the only comprehensive independent analysis of Government's annual figures on empty homes. The 2019 Report reflects pre-pandemic trends, prior to the 20% rise in numbers announced at the end 2020, but offers extensive commentary and explanation of the data, that report 'Empty Homes in England 2019' is available here for free download.

For a summary of national and regional data based on the pandemic-impacted 2020 Council Taxbase click here for 'Empty Homes in England 2020' (includes data for all regions and local council areas).

Current numbers of long-term empty homes in England are now 11% above pre-pandemic (2019) levels and have risen by 24% since the end of the last National Empty Homes Programme in 2015 (taking the 2016 data as the starting point).

For the latest analysis of new figures as Government publishes these, see our media releases, here

You can read ComRes polling of MPs views about empty homes and the national housing crisis here

Types of publications:

We produce four types of publications:

1) Campaign publications which advocate for policy responses to end the waste of empty homes, for example: the work of the Coalition for Community Investment

2) Research and analysis on the empty homes issue: This includes our annual analysis of official Government data on empty homes, and periodic more detailed dives into the trends such as 'Empty Homes in England'

For the latest official data on empty homes number in local authorities in England click here

We also publish reports examining regional and local aspects of the issue and the factors underlying these, for example our 2016 report, based on our research with local authorities and communities ‘Empty Homes: Why do some areas have higher levels’  and the report from our investigation into London housing and wealth investment 'Homes Without Residents' (Jan 2020)

3) Project reports on practical solutions to the problem of empty homes such as 'Community action on empty homes - Using empty homes to regenerate communities'. and  'Community-based approaches in areas with high levels of empty homes'.

Or 'Affordable homes from empty commercial spaces'.

4) Toolkits to support those working in the field - the latest of these is our 2021 our Community Action on Empty Homes Toolkit

another example is our 'Legal Toolkit: How to use the law to best effect to get empty homes back into use: a short guide on the legal options available to local authorities'

The Action on Empty Homes Legal Toolkit was produced with support from Devonshires.

Current publications:

       

       

                

                

Media enquiries:

For comment on our research or further information on the waste of empty homes, the solutions and our campaigns please click here - you can also access recent press releases and contact details via this link