Almost £1bn of empty homes in Liverpool

Liverpool has the highest number of empty properties of all towns and cities in the North West, with 8,357 homes sitting vacant, according to research by property investment marketplace Property Partner.

Property Partner analysed the latest data from the Department of Communities & Local Government, looking at long-term vacant dwellings in England between 2005 and 2016.

Across England, there were 200,145 long-term empty homes in 2016, amounting to more than £43bn.

Blackburn saw the biggest increase in empty homes outside London with a 32% rise in a year. The number rose from 1,179 in 2015 to 1,563 in 2016.

Blackpool crept into the worst 20 towns and cities outside London, but achieved the greatest percentage reduction, falling 26% in a year from 1,592 empty homes in 2015 to 1,174 in 2016.

Manchester saw the greatest fall over a decade, dropping 88% from 11,062 in 2015 to 1,365 last year. This drop, however, still left more than £300m of empty homes.

Dan Gandesha, chief executive of Property Partner, said: “These figures lay bare the huge amount of housing stock lying empty across the country.

“Councils have had the power to apply to seize empty homes since 2006 and huge advances have been made over the last ten years. Our research shows there is some great work being done in areas where the number of empty homes is coming down rapidly, such as Blackpool and Harrow.

“Dealing with this issue represents a fantastic opportunity to free up supply and help alleviate the scarcity of affordable housing nationally.”