Empty Home Hotspots: These London Boroughs have the highest percentage of vacant homes in the UK

Oct 08, 2020 by London-TV in Business

There are currently a shocking 640,000 empty homes in England, which account for 2.65% of all houses. However, at the other end of the scale, some authorities have as little as 0.5% of properties lying empty. So where in the country has the most & least occupied homes?

To reveal all, Coulters have conducted research using Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data to discover the top ten areas with the highest and lowest percentage of vacant homes, and multiple London boroughs feature on both lists.

The UK’s Top 10 Most Occupied Homes Hotspots

Rank	Local Authority	Vacant Dwellings	% of Vacant Dwellings
1	Corby	135	0.45%
2	Wandsworth	804	0.54%
3	Hammersmith and Fulham	659	0.74%
4	Westminster	988	0.79%
5	Daventry	392	1.08%
6	Barking and Dagenham	921	1.21%
7	Solihull	1199	1.30%
8	Lambeth	1849	1.31%
9	Herefordshire, County of	1,136	1.32%
10	Brent	1,662	1.38%

The majority of the areas with the lowest proportion of empty houses are located in London.

However, not all London districts have high occupancy rates, The City of London and Southwark both feature in the Top 10 areas with the highest percentage of empty homes.

The UK’s Top 10 Empty Home Hotspots

Rank	Local Authority	Vacant Dwellings	% of Vacant Dwellings
1	Blackpool	3,842	5.47%
2	Burnley	2,089	5.09%
3	City of London	311	4.78%
4	Barrow-in-Furness	1,575	4.70%
5	Hartlepool	2,078	4.70%
6	Liverpool	10,704	4.67%
7	Southwark	6,303	4.63%
8	Hyndburn	1,660	4.50%
9	Blackburn with Darwen	2,717	4.43%
10	Fylde	1,751	4.40%

Other key findings include:

Hounslow was named the number one location where empty homes are on the rise, with 162% increase in empty homes year-on-year, followed by Tower Hamlets, Harrow, Newham.
On the other hand, Ealing has seen the biggest decline in empty homes, decreasing by 38% year-on-year.