More than 270,000 long-term vacant homes in Great Britain

New research has revealed there are more than a quarter of a million homes across Great Britain that have been left empty for at least two years.

A study by insurance group Admiral found long-term vacancies across the three countries totalled 278,018, while 2,535 vacant homes were listed for demolition last year.

Admiral’s research found that there were nine long-term vacant homes for every 1,000 units in England, totalling 216,186.

Scotland had 39,110 long-term vacancies, equivalent to 15 for every 1,000 homes, while Wales had 22,722, equal to 22 in 1,000.

Data from Northern Ireland was left out of the survey due to what Admiral called “a lack of responses”.

The table of councils with the most long-term vacant homes was topped by the Shetland Islands, which had just over 47 per 1,000, followed in second place at the other end of the country by the City of London, which had nearly 39 per 1,000.

Down in the South-west, Cornwall topped both the league showing homes left vacant for more than a decade – nearly 26 per 1,000 – and the list showing the value of homes left vacant for more than 10 years: £1.6bn.

Among London boroughs, following the Square Mile was Southwark (13.3 per 1,000), Kensington and Chelsea (12.7 per 1,000) and Camden (11.6 per 1,000).

Admiral said it compiled the tables through data available from local government and freedom of information requests made to 427 local authorities.

The firm said 212 of the 358 local councils which responded provided comparable figures on longer-term vacancies in their district.