More than 11 million homes lie empty across Europe, enough to house the continent's homeless population twice over, according to data compiled by the Guardian from EU sources. Spain has the highest number of vacant properties, with over 3.4 million empty homes, followed by France and Italy with more than 2 million each, Germany with 1.8 million, and the UK with over 700,000.
Many of these homes are in vast holiday resorts built during the pre-2008 housing boom and have never been occupied. In addition, hundreds of thousands of half-built homes have been demolished to prop up property prices. Housing campaigners have described the situation as a 'shocking waste', with millions of homeless people in need of shelter.
David Ireland, chief executive of the Empty Homes charity, said: 'It's incredible. It's a massive number. Homes are built for people to live in; if they're not being lived in then something has gone seriously wrong with the housing market.' He called on policymakers to address the issue of wealthy buyers using houses as 'investment vehicles' rather than homes.
Freek Spinnewijn, director of FEANTSA, an umbrella organisation for homelessness bodies across Europe, labelled the empty homes a 'scandal'. 'You would only need half of them to end homelessness,' he said. 'Governments should do as much as possible to put empty homes on the market.'
In Spain, the problem is particularly acute, with 14% of all properties vacant. The Spanish government estimates an additional 500,000 part-built homes have been abandoned. In some resorts, more than a third of homes remain empty five years after the financial crisis peak. The UK also faces issues, with a Guardian investigation revealing that a third of mansions on London's 'Billionaires Row' are empty, some for a quarter of a century.
