Previous blogs have looked at the two definitions of vacant properties and outlined those with the highest share not captured by the Governments vacant definition. The alternative (and higher) figures are based on census data.
So what is the status of the vacant properties? [ The figures exclude second homes which are categorised separately.]
To get an idea of what they might be requires looking at other data sets – the Council Tax Base, Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and various sources for holiday lets. This last one is the most difficult. There is no one source of data, with estimates only available from a number of reports so any figures here are that – estimates with a significant margin of error.
Holiday lets
VOA data is the official source for the number of holiday lets. People should register for business rates and therefore appear on the VOA list if they are available for 20 weeks or 140 days each year. Anyone who makes a property available for less than that does not have to register for business rates and would pay Council tax instead. Other sources exist. The table below shows the total for holiday lets, divided between VOA and non-VOA categories.
Source | Total | VOA | Non VOA |
Holiday lets (Alma) | 180,000 | 65,260 | 114,740 |
CPRE analysis of airdna 21 | 148000 | 65,260 | 82,740 |
Analysis of Booking.com data | 117,000 | 65,260 | 51,740 |
If we take an average of these estimates we get 148,300 holiday lets.
Vacant – but used for?
The table below gives a breakdown of vacant properties in England. Only 59.2% can be accounted for using the sources indicated. This leaves a gap of 551,700 dwellings – what could they be?
Category | Source | Number | % |
Owned by a charity | CTB | 26800 | 2.0 |
Empty | CTB | 468100 | 34.6 |
Empty (deceased) | CTB | 110700 | 8.2 |
In care home | CTB | 31000 | 2.3 |
Second homes (not in census) | CTB | 98400 | 7.3 |
Self-catering holiday lets | VOA | 65300 | 4.8 |
Other holiday lets | Estimate | 83,000 | 6.1 |
Sub-total | 800,300 | 59.2 | |
Missing | 551,700 | 40.8 | |
Total | Census 21 | 1,352,000 | 100.0 |
Another way to look at the data is to replace the ‘empty, empty deceased, and in care home’ figures and replace them with the ‘All vacants’ total. This cuts the missing total from 551,700 to 425,800.
Category | Source | Numbers | % |
Owned by a charity | CTB | 26800 | 2.0 |
Second homes (not in census) | CTB | 98,400 | 7.3 |
Self-catering holiday lets | VOA | 65,300 | 4.8 |
Other holiday lets | Est | 83,000 | 6.1 |
All vacants | DLUHC | 653,000 | 48.3 |
Sub-total |
| 926,200 | 68.5 |
Gap |
| 425,800 | 31.5 |
Total | Census 21 | 1,352,000 | 100.0 |
What accounts for the missing dwellings which are unaccounted for. We don’t know. Some could be in the process of being sold or between tenants in the public and private rented sector. The data is simply not available.
Background data
The 2021 DHLUC figure for England is 653,025. This compares to a total of 1,352,130 vacant dwellings in the census, twice as high.
Sources
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), table 615.
Office for National Statistics, 27 October 2023, Number of vacant and second homes, England and Wales: Census 2021.
Generation Rent, May 2022, Your holiday, our home? Understanding the impact of holiday homes on the private rented sector.
House of Commons Library, 19 May 2023 The growth in short-term lettings (England), Research Briefing, Number 8395. By Hannah Cromarty.
Valuation Office Agency. Table 1.2: Number of rateable properties, total rateable value, mean rateable value and median rateable value by property type and country as at 31 March 2021.
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