A staggering £194.3 billion homes are standing dormant in the current market, research from estate agent comparison site GetAgent.co.uk has found.
Across England there are some 653,025 homes classified as vacant, though the situation has improved by 2% year-on-year.
Birmingham is home to the highest volume of vacant homes with 12,585 empty properties, followed by Leeds (11,666) and Liverpool (11,028).
Lincoln has seen the worst increase, with a huge 133% more vacant homes now found in the area when compared to the previous year, at 3,085.
Earlier this month housing secretary Michael Gove vowed to end the “scourge” of unoccupied homes.
Since then, action has been taken in the commercial property sector, as the government plans to force landlords to rent out empty shops.
Colby Short, co-founder and chief executive of GetAgent.co.uk, said: “Coincidental, perhaps, that such a sustained period of property price growth has also coincided with a fall in the number of empty homes found across England.
“In fact, London is the only region where this level of empty properties hasn’t fallen and it’s also the only region where property price growth has been largely stagnant over the last two years.
“But while it seems as though some have decided to cash in while the price is right, there remains a substantial number of properties lying dormant across the market. Homes that could go some way in satisfying the nation’s hunger for homeownership.”
All but one region has seen a drop in the level of vacant homes, with the largest reduction being seen in the North East, where there are -6% fewer than the previous year.
Only London has seen an increase, of 9%.
At local authority level, Kensington and Chelsea is home to the highest total value of vacant homes at £4.4bn, followed by Camden and Buckinghamshire.
Maybe not enough votes in it for any government action…