The latest Council Taxbase 2025 statistics, released this November, show that the number of empty and otherwise non-permanently occupied homes in England has continued to rise. Drawn from local authority Council Taxbase, these figures provide the most comprehensive picture of national housing occupancy available, and the 2025 dataset points to a housing system under increasing strain.
This year’s data records 542,276 empty homes, an increase of almost 40,000 on 2024. When combined with second homes and unoccupied exemptions, England now has over one million dwellings, 1,022,433 in total, not being used as primary residences. This represents 3.96% of the country’s housing stock, the highest proportion recorded since before the pandemic. As a trend, this shift has been gradual but persistent: compared with 2021, there are now more than 116,000 additional homes lying empty or removed from housing supply.
A particular area of concern is the continued rise in long-term empty homes, defined as properties vacant for more than six months. The 2025 total has climbed to 309,856, a significant increase from 272,257 last year. Long-term emptiness often reflects deeper structural issues, stalled renovations, probate delays, affordability pressures, landlord exit from the market, or viability challenges in low-demand areas, and therefore acts as a more sensitive indicator of market conditions. The number of properties subject to the Empty Homes Premium has also risen sharply to 152,932, more than doubling since 2022. This may reflect both the growing stock of long-term vacancies and the widespread adoption of premium charges by local authorities as a tool to incentivise occupation.
By contrast, the numbers of second homes and unoccupied exemptions appear relatively stable at national level. Second homes have seen a slight reduction since last year, although this masks substantial local variation, with increases continuing in many coastal and rural areas while some urban authorities report modest falls. Unoccupied exemptions—homes temporarily removed from council tax liability for reasons such as structural disrepair, probate or student occupancy, have remained broadly consistent for three consecutive years. This stability suggests that the overall growth in non-permanently occupied stock is being driven primarily by the rise in empty and long-term empty homes.
The Council Taxbase itself is an important and often under-explained dataset. Each October, local authorities classify every dwelling for council tax purposes, determining not only how many homes are in each council tax band but also whether they are empty, exempt, second homes, or subject to a premium. These returns are submitted to central government which collates and publishes the national statistics every November. As a statutory process covering every residential property in England, the Council Taxbase offers a uniquely complete view of the country’s housing stock.
The 2025 figures underline a series of emerging policy challenges. The consistent rise in long-term emptiness points to widening barriers to bringing homes back into use. The sharp increase in premium-charged properties suggests growing pressure on local authorities to use fiscal levers to shift behaviour. Meanwhile, the relative stability of exemption and second-home figures indicates that the upturn in empty homes is not the result of administrative reclassification, but a genuine change in the status of properties nationwide. Regional disparities, explored more fully in the accompanying report, show diverging experiences between high-pressure housing markets, coastal communities, and low-demand areas.
The Empty Homes Network has now published its full analysis, Council Taxbase 2025: England’s Empty Homes Statistics, which is available for members to download. The report examines regional patterns, local authority-level changes, emerging drivers behind the trends, and the implications for policy and practice, and can be downloaded in our Information Library here.
