Empty homes hit a decade high – and unoccupied property cover is becoming a real broker growth line
Government figures back up the broad picture. Note the scope difference: Ceta’s 750,000 figure covers the whole UK, while the comparison data below is England-only – but even on that narrower base, the trend lines match. England alone recorded 676,304 empty homes in October 2022 according to the House of Commons Library, with roughly a third classed as long-term vacant, and more recent council tax data cited by industry analysts puts English unoccupied homes at 754,264 for 2025. Ceta’s UK-wide estimate sits comfortably within the range other sources are showing.
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From niche add-on to mainstream growth line
What might be more interesting to brokers than the postcode list itself is the growth curve sitting behind it. Ceta said its own sales of unoccupied property insurance in 2025 were 500% higher than in 2020, with conversion rates up roughly fivefold over the same period. That chimes with wider Atec Group data suggesting quotations for this type of cover have surged since 2020 as vacancy periods stretch out across the market.
Ceta also cited research suggesting three quarters of brokers (75%) now see unoccupied property as an important growth opportunity, rather than the awkward, hard-to-place risk it was once treated as.
Harry Peters, business-to-business operations manager at Ceta, said the exercise was the first time an insurer had mapped precisely where the UK’s biggest unoccupied-home risks sit, and how exposed owners across the country are to the range of vulnerabilities that come with a vacant property. He said a large proportion of owners were likely completely unaware of the risk they were carrying, with a standard policy’s inadequacy only surfacing when they tried to make a claim.
