Where are Britain's Ghost Homes? The areas with the highest proportions of vacant properties revealed

New research by Compare the Market has explored Britain's empty homes, revealing the UK regions where people are most likely to have left a property unoccupied for an extended period, alongside new data identifying areas with the highest proportions of vacant dwellings.

The research found that more than one in four Brits (26%) had left a property unoccupied for an extended period, excluding standard holidays.

The findings reveal notable regional differences, with Scotland (31%), Greater London (31%) and the North West (29%) topping the rankings for the proportion of respondents who had left a property empty.

Separately, vacant dwelling data has revealed the areas with the highest proportions of empty homes, with the Isles of Scilly ranking first, where 2.53% of all dwellings are vacant.

The areas with the highest proportions of vacant dwellings are:

| Rank | Area | Vacant dwellings | Total dwellings | Proportion vacant | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Isles of Scilly | 33 | 1,304 | 2.53% | | 2 | Torbay | 1,675 | 70,349 | 2.38% | | 3 | North East Lincolnshire | 1,768 | 75,954 | 2.33% | | 4 | Middlesbrough | 1,513 | 65,954 | 2.29% | | 5 | Kensington and Chelsea | 2,030 | 90,344 | 2.25% | | 6 | Westmorland and Furness | 2,715 | 121,790 | 2.23% | | 7 | Hastings | 947 | 45,017 | 2.10% | | 8 | Thanet | 1,454 | 71,821 | 2.02% | | 9 | Cotswold | 938 | 46,772 | 2.01% | | 10 | Barnet | 3277 | 165,020 | 1.99% |

The findings form part of Compare the Market's Britain's Ghost Homes campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the practical considerations involved in leaving a property unoccupied and help homeowners understand when they may need to check their policy or explore specialist unoccupied home insurance.

Sam Wilson, Home Insurance Expert at Compare the Market, comments:

"Leaving a property unoccupied for an extended period is not always something people plan for. It can happen when someone relocates for work, spends time abroad or carries out renovations, and the time away can sometimes last longer than expected.

"Wherever you live, it's important to understand how your home insurance policy treats an unoccupied property. Some policies have specific conditions or restrictions after a property has been empty for a set period, so homeowners should check their documents and speak to their insurer before leaving their home vacant.

"It's also worth considering practical steps to protect an empty property, such as arranging regular checks and following any security, heating or water precautions specified by your insurer."

Sources:

1. Compare the Market Survey (October 2026): 3,000 UK respondents, conducted between 09.10.2026 - 13.10.2026
2. GOV.UK data on long-term vacant dwellings compared with local authority dwelling stock figures to calculate the percentage of dwellings that were vacant in each area. Where data was missing, we used the latest available figure. Local authorities without data in either dataset were assigned 0%.

About Compare the Market

Compare the Market was launched in 2006 and has grown rapidly over the past twenty years to become one of the UK's leading price comparison websites.

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