Vacant dwellings
Key points
In 2022 there were 17,449 vacant dwellings in the Lancashire-12 area, around 3.1% of total dwelling stock. In the wider Lancashire-14 area the figures were 23,149 and 3.3%.
Vacant dwelling numbers have been on the decline for some of the years since 2010 at the national and local levels, but parts of the Lancashire-14 area continue to record vacancy rates that are well above the England average.
Between 2010 and 2022, vacant dwelling numbers fell by 8.3% in England and 27.3% in the Lancashire-12 area. In 2022, vacant dwellings accounted for 2.7% of the total at the national level, but 3.1% for the Lancashire-12 area and 3.3% for the Lancashire-14 area. Blackpool and Burnley had high levels of vacant dwellings in 2022 at 4.4%. Wyre recorded a significant reduction of 973 (51.8%) in vacant dwellings over the twelve-year period. For Pendle the reduction was 1,312 (48.8%) and in Hyndburn 1,186 (48.5%).
Over the last year, from 2021 to 2022, the number of vacant dwellings in England rose by 23,279 (+3.6%) to the highest total since 2012. Within the Lancashire-14 area, eight authorities saw yearly increases, with most being in Ribble Valley (+136, +17.6%) and West Lancashire (+156, +12%). Everywhere else there were falls, the largest being the -97 in Lancaster (-4.7%)
See Appendix 1 and 2 for the latest data, time series and recent changes.
Background information
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) collects data on the dwelling stock, and the numbers include details of vacant dwellings: a unit of residential accommodation that is empty at a particular point of time. Vacant dwellings include those that are empty between change of occupants or undergoing refurbishment, awaiting demolition, or newly completed but not occupied.
There will always be a proportion of the housing stock empty to enable the process of buying, selling and letting to work efficiently, whilst some will be empty to allow repairs and improvement. These are known as transactional vacancies and most are brought back into use quickly and without intervention. It is estimated that the effective minimum level of empty homes as a result of these processes is around 2% of the housing stock.
Not all properties are quickly brought back into use and Appendix 1, available as a download at the bottom of the page, details the number of vacant dwellings in the Lancashire-14 area by district from 2010 to 2020. Table 1 below has the stock counts and percentages of vacant dwellings for 2020. Appendix 2 also includes the small numbers of vacant dwellings known to be affecting the local authority and social housing tenure sectors.
Please note that numbers registered as vacant may have fallen since 2013 as councils may now offer zero discount on vacant dwellings which reduces the incentive to register the property as such.
Change over time
Between 2010 and 2022, there was a noticeable decline of 60,843 (8.3%) in vacant dwelling numbers for England as a whole, with a significant decrease (74,299) occurring between 2012 and 2013. The lowest total in England was 589,766 in 2016 but has risen slowly since then until 2022. In the Lancashire-14 area between 2010 and 2022, the decline amounted to a reduction of 7,836 (25.3%) to give a figure of 23,149 vacant dwellings in 2022.
Between 2010 and 2022, Wyre recorded a significant reduction of 973 (51.8%) in vacant dwellings over the eleven-year period. Large reductions were also seen in Pendle: 1,312 (48.8%) and Hyndburn: 1,186 (48.5%). With the exception of Ribble Valley, in all of the Lancashire 12 and 14 areas as well as the North West region and England vacant dwellings were fewer in 2022 than in 2010.
Over the last year, from 2021 to 2022, the number of vacant dwellings in England rose by 23,279 (+3.6%) to the highest total since 2012. Within the Lancashire-14 area, eight authorities saw yearly increases, with most being in Ribble Valley (+136, +17.6%) and West Lancashire (+156, +12%). Everywhere else there were falls, the largest being the -97 in Lancaster (-4.7%)
For the Lancashire-14 area as a whole the number of vacant dwellings rose by 249 over the last year. For the Lancashire-12 area, the number of vacant dwellings rose by 309. The percentage changes were 1.1% and 1.8% respectively.
Vacant dwellings as a proportion of all dwelling stock
At the national level, the 676,304 vacant dwellings represented 2.7% of total dwellings, whilst for Lancashire-14, the percentage was somewhat higher at 3.3%. The proportion of vacant dwellings is a significant issue in some Lancashire authorities. The highest proportions were found in Blackpool and in Burnley with 4.4% of dwelling stock standing vacant in 2022. The 3,182 empty properties in Blackpool by far exceeded those in any other Lancashire authority with only Blackburn with Darwen and Preston also having more than 2,000. The Blackburn with Darwen proportion was also high at 4%, followed by Fylde at 3.9% and Preston at 3.7%.
The Lancashire authorities which recorded a percentage of vacant dwellings below the 2.7% England average were Wyre at 1.7%, Chorley at 2.5% and South Ribble at 2.6%. The vacancy rate was slightly above the England value in West Lancashire (2.8%). The very low rate in Wyre is a testimony to the extent to which vacant stock has fallen since 2010, a decline of 51.8% over twelve years.
Table 1: Vacant dwellings, 2022
| Vacant dwellings1 | Total dwelling stock2 | Percentage dwellings vacant | |
| Burnley | 1,867 | 42,340 | 4.4% |
| Chorley | 1,308 | 52,390 | 2.5% |
| Fylde | 1,562 | 40,450 | 3.9% |
| Hyndburn | 1,260 | 37,440 | 3.4% |
| Lancaster | 1,955 | 66,100 | 3.0% |
| Pendle | 1,376 | 41,050 | 3.4% |
| Preston | 2,415 | 66,120 | 3.7% |
| Ribble Valley | 910 | 28,600 | 3.2% |
| Rossendale | 1,127 | 32,320 | 3.5% |
| South Ribble | 1,306 | 50,880 | 2.6% |
| West Lancashire | 1,458 | 51,230 | 2.8% |
| Wyre | 905 | 54,150 | 1.7% |
| Lancashire-12 | 17,449 | 563,050 | 3.1% |
| Blackburn with Darwen | 2,518 | 62,510 | 4.0% |
| Blackpool | 3,182 | 72,080 | 4.4% |
| Lancashire-14 | 23,149 | 697,640 | 3.3% |
| England | 676,304 | 25,105,170 | 2.7% |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
[1] GOV.UK website, live tables on dwelling stock, Table 615. The figures constitute an exact count.
[2] GOV.UK website, Council tax: stock of properties, 2022
Additional Information
The Homes and Communities Agency's website has an empty homes web page.
The Action on empty homes website contains information on initiatives to help tackle the problem of unused dwellings.
The new homes bonus is a grant paid by central government to local councils for increasing the number of homes. The web link gives access to a spreadsheet that details the financial allocations for all authorities across the country, and the numbers of empty homes that have been brought back into use.
The present rules on council tax levied on empty homes mean that it is up to the local council to decide on whether discounts are applicable.
Further data
Appendix 1 and 2: Vacant dwellings, 2010 to 2022, plus recent changes (EXCEL 20 KB)
Page updated April 2023.