Empty And Second Homes In September 2024

18th December 2024

In Scotland there are 21,606 second homes and 43,538 properties empty for more than 6 months.

The latest council tax data (in September 2024) shows there were 21,606 second homes, 43,538 properties that had been empty for more than 6 months, of which, 73% (31,596) were categorised as long-term empty homes (i.e. empty for over 12 months) and 47,779 unoccupied exemptions which have generally been empty and unfurnished for less than 6 months.

Compared with the previous year (2023):

there was a decrease of 10% (2,455) in second homes, this is the biggest annual decrease in 10 years. This may relate to the 100% council tax premium on second homes that came into effect in April 2024.

a decrease of 6% (2,679) in empty homes, which is likely to be associated with a clarification in the data specification to ensure only empty homes at or over 6 months would be counted in the data.

an increase of 12% (3,316) in long term empty homes (empty for over 12 months) and a decrease of 1% (486) in unoccupied exemptions.