INDUSTRY NEWS 13


More than 200,000 UK homes left idle


England has 200,145 long-term empty homes worth more than £43bn, according to investment website Property Partner. In London alone, there were 19,845


homes sitting idle for over six months in 2016. That equates to £9.4bn worth of property. Birmingham was the worst performer


outside London, with 4,397 properties sitting empty, up 13 per cent in a year. Bradford had the second highest figure at


3,944, down 5 per cent, followed by Liverpool at 3,449, up 5 per cent from the previous year. Manchester has seen the greatest fall over a decade, dropping 88 per cent to 1,365. The tables have been turned in London,


said Property Partner, where one of the most deprived areas has swapped places with one of the wealthiest as the capital’s worst performer. Prime property area Kensington & Chelsea has London’s highest number of long-term vacant homes, with 1,399 empty, up 8.5 per cent last year and a rise of 22.7 per cent in a decade. Previously, the last place in the capital had gone to Newham, but it has staged a turnaround in 12 months, reducing the number of empty homes by 55 per cent to 593 from 1,318 in 2015. It has been reported that over the last


decade, the number of long-term vacant homes in England has dropped 36.4 per cent from 314,719 in 2006 but it has barely moved year-on-year, showing a drop of 35 per cent in the decade to 2015. The estimated value of empty property in England now stands at £43.5bn. Dan Gandesha, CEO of Property Partner,


believes the figures “lay bare the huge amount of housing stock lying empty across the country.” He commented that councils have had


the power to apply to seize empty homes since 2006, and “huge advances” have been made. Dan said: “Our research shows there is


some great work being done,” and that “dealing with this issue represents a fantas- tic opportunity to free up supply and help alleviate the scarcity of affordable housing nationally.”


Council boosts Empty Property Strategy


A new initiative to further reduce the number of long-term empty residential properties has been announced by the City of Wolverhampton Council. Its Empty Property Strategy has seen


more than 1,500 privately-owned homes which had been left unoccupied, often in poor condition, brought back into use in the last eight years. The number of properties empty for five


or more years has been reduced from 330 in 2009 to 59 in October 2016, a reduction of more than 82 per cent. Additionally, at the time of writing the


Cabinet is expected to rubber stamp a pilot programme that will offer grants of up to £500, from an initial £50,000 fund, to encourage more owners of empty proper- ties to act. The grants are intended to help either


owners with legal/agent fees to sell their property, or provide an incentive to rent it under the Private Sector Leasing Scheme. Councillor Peter Bilson, deputy leader


and cabinet member for City Housing and Assets, said the council aims to ensure that, rather than the properties becoming a “blight” on their neighbourhood, “they are either sold to new homeowners or rented out to tenants.” “This strategy is helping to put these


houses back on the market.” He continued: “This is the equivalent of


us building hundreds of new houses across the city and we will continue to focus our efforts on empty houses.”


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