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Derelict homes depress UK mortgage market

Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005

The growing problem of derelict properties is starting to hit the UK mortgage market.

According to research from Halifax, using data from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, there are around 700,000 empty houses in England – the equivalent of 3.2 per cent of the country's housing stock.

The number of abandoned properties in an area often leads to the depressing of housing prices and also means more people are forced into temporary accommodation.

"It is in the interest of the whole community to eradicate the empty homes problem," said Tim Crawford, group economist at Halifax.

"Apart from the social benefits of bringing empty homes back into use, house prices tend to be lower in areas with a high number of empty homes."

The North West has the highest number of empty properties, with 127,473 homes left unattended.

However, the UK's current empty housing rates compare favourable with other European countries – with France reporting a 6.8 per cent of its housing empty, whist German reports a rate of 8.2 per cent.


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