New figures released by a property buying firm reveal that more than 300,000 homes in England are classed as long-term vacant, with a combined estimated value approaching £89 billion. Across the country, a total of over 750,000 dwellings are standing empty, stoking a debate about waste and housing need that shows no sign of cooling.
The researchers counted properties vacant for at least six months, mapping them against current average house prices to reach the towering valuation. It is a stark reminder that, even as families struggle to find affordable shelter, a significant slice of the housing stock remains mothballed, often in parts of the country where demand is highest.
Where households are thinnest
| District | Post town | Region | Homes per postcode |
|---|---|---|---|
| W1U | London | London | 2.7 |
| LS1 | Leeds | Yorkshire and The Humber | 4.1 |
| BT92 | Enniskillen | Northern Ireland | 4.2 |
| BT93 | Enniskillen | Northern Ireland | 4.2 |
| W1H | London | London | 4.7 |
| DL11 | Richmond | Yorkshire and The Humber | 4.9 |
| SA19 | Llandeilo, Llangadog, Llanwrda | Wales | 5.1 |
| NE47 | Hexham | North East | 5.5 |
| DY14 | Kidderminster | West Midlands | 5.6 |
| LA22 | Ambleside | North West | 5.7 |
A London postcode tells the tale
Postcodes UK’s own data adds a granular layer to the story. The least crowded postcode district in the nation is W1U, a slice of London’s West End. Here, each postcode serves an average of around 2.7 households - a remarkably low figure in a capital that grapples with chronic undersupply. While we cannot say how many properties in W1U are empty, the sparse occupation hints at a pattern seen across the city: valuable homes often held as investments, sitting idle for long stretches.
In a district where every occupied property carries a weighty price tag, even a handful of long-term empties can skew the picture. The £88bn national empty-home bill feels especially glaring when you consider areas like W1U, where the existing housing stock is already so thinly spread. A few dozen vacant flats around Marylebone High Street or Wigmore Street would represent a disproportionate share of the district’s tiny occupied base.
The empty homes research underlines the scale of the mismatch between housing need and empty property. Our postcode-level lens reinforces that underuse is not uniformly distributed. Some districts, like W1U, might host a disproportionate number of high-value empties, though official vacancy data is not published at postcode district level. What is clear is that a very low occupied density inside one of the world’s most expensive postcodes reflects a deeper structural issue: prime central London property can be an asset class rather than a home.
Nationally, the 303,185 long-term vacant properties represent a lost opportunity to ease the housing crisis. While regional variations are large, the problem is not confined to former industrial towns or coastal resorts. The capital’s own overly quiet streets, like those in W1U, show that empty homes can hide in plain sight, wrapped in the prestige of a desirable postcode.
The data behind this
The household-per-postcode calculation draws on the latest ONS census household estimates and Postcodes UK’s own address counts, which are derived from HM Land Registry and Royal Mail records. The empty homes value analysis was published by the House Buyer Bureau on Mortgage Strategy.
In response to reporting by Mortgage Strategy. Analysis and figures by Postcodes UK.