Second homes and vacant dwellings in London

My London has extracted data on the number of second homes for each London borough from the council tax base for 2024.

A total of 48,930 were identified.  Chelsea & Kensington had the highest number at 7,667.  In all, seven boroughs accounted for 32,433 or 66.3% of the total. 

Table 1	Second homes		Share of all homes
Borough	No	Cum no	%	Cum %
Kensington and Chelsea	7667	7667	15.7	15.7
Tower Hamlets	7572	15239	15.5	31.1
Camden	6298	21537	12.9	44.0
Southwark	3148	24685	6.4	50.4
Hammersmith & Fulham	2785	27470	5.7	56.1
Westminster	2772	30242	5.7	61.8
Barnet	2191	32433	4.5	66.3

For comparison, Cornwall had 14,123 second homes.  This figure is equivalent to 28.9% of the London total.

[NB.  The second home total may be an underestimate as not all properties used as second homes will be recorded]

The census provides some other information on total unoccupied dwellings including second homes and vacant properties.  The table below gives the data for the seven boroughs referred to in table 1.

The data clearly shows the high shares of unoccupied properties in these boroughs, clearly an issue when housing need in those areas is considered.

Table 2		Census
Borough	2nd homes 2024	Unoccupied		Vacant	2nd homes
	No	No	%	No	No
Kensington and Chelsea	7667	22525	25.2	17155	5370
Tower Hamlets	7572	14015	10.4	10905	3110
Camden	6298	15530	14.3	14510	1020
Southwark	3148	11335	8.0	10370	965
Hammersmith & Fulham	2785	11695	12.6	10395	1300
Westminster	2772	34170	26.5	29775	4395
Barnet	2191	22525	14.4	7520	275

The two data sets give different figures for second homes, partly a reflection of using different years and different definitions.

Sources

Census 2021, hou01tables, Table 1a: Dwelling occupancy by dwelling type, national to local authority, England and Wales 2021.

Council Tax Base, 2024.

Holden, J., My London, 23rd November 2024.

https://www.mylondon.news/news/property/london-borough-number-second-homes-30419974