Empty Properties

Crunching and interpreting data from the 2011 census will no doubt go on for some time to come, but one interesting set of statistics relates to properties returning "no usual resident". These were properties which were either vacant at the time of the census or second homes. Not included in the figures it seems are the many thousands of holiday lets which are a major feature in many coastal and rural areas of Wales.

The full data set for Wales can be found here. To view detailed figures for each authority at ward level, click on the name of the council.

[NB This link appears to be unstable. To find the data, go to the ONS website here. Select "Get data by topic", then choose "Housing". Scroll down to "Household Spaces, 2011 (QS417EW)". Select and click on "Next" at the bottom of the page. To view, click on "Next" and then select "2011 Administrative Hierarchy". Click on "Next", and you will see the data for Wales. To drill down, click on Wales, and then click on an individual county to see ward level data.]

The overall percentage for "no usual resident" for Wales as a whole was 5.97%, compared with 4.25% for England.

Within Wales there is a wide variation between the 22 local authorities. Leading the field with the highest percentages of vacant properties and/or second homes were the following:

Authority	At least one usual resident	No usual resident	% vacant
Gwynedd	52,473	8,602	14.1
Pembrokeshire	53,122	7,590	12.5
Angelsey	30,594	3,589	10.5
Ceredigion	31,562	3,107	8.9
Conwy	51,177	5,022	8.9
Powys	58,345	5,137	8.1
Merthyr Tydfil	24,264	1,990	7.6
Carmarthenshire	78,829	5,326	6.3

Not suprisingly, there is a wide variation at ward level as well. Abersoch in Gwynedd is probably the most extreme case, with 54% of properties returned as "no usual resident".

The figures for the remaining local authorities were as follows:

Authority	At least one usual resident	No usual resident	% vacant
Neath Port Talbot	60,393	3,624	5.7
Rhondda Cynon Taf	99,663	5,647	5.4
Denbighshire	40,546	2,191	5.1
Swansea	103,497	5,480	5
Blaenau Gwent	30,416	1,536	4.8
Bridgend	58,515	2,983	4.8
Monmouthshire	38,233	1,845	4.6
Torfaen	38,524	1,705	4.2
Cardiff	142,557	6,042	4.1
Vale of Glamorgan	53,505	2,159	3.9
Newport	61.172	2,433	3.8
Caerphilly	74,479	2,765	3.6
Wrexham	57,029	2,015	3.4
Flintshire	63,781	2,057	3.1

Only 7 of the 22 Welsh authorities were below the average for England.

In some cases the figures throw a question mark over proposed Local Development Plans which provide for a massive expansion of house building.

Carmarthenshire is one which comes to mind. Its LDP is based on a projection that the number of households would soar from 78,000 in 2006 to just over 93,000 in 2021. Five years into this period, and the number of households was static at 78,000. The number of empty properties, on the other hand, rose from 3,574 in 2001 to 5,326 in 2011.