The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has released the annual Council Tax Base (CTB) figures. The latest are for 2024. One section which is of interest is the number of properties declared as second homes. In 2024 the total equalled 14,123 or 4.9% of the total housing stock on the CTB. Compared to 2023, the numbers are up by 983. Total stock increased by 3,766.
It is important to realise that the figures may well not capture all properties used as second homes as the owners do not have register them as such. Changes in totals and from year to year reflect actual changes and also whether the owner has decided to register them as second homes. They cannot therefore reflect the true figure.
Cornwall Council state "In 2013 Cornwall Council removed the discount for second homes, which resulted in all “unoccupied dwellings” paying 100% council tax. The consequence of this change was that we do not monitor second home ownership through Council Tax. Therefore as we rely on residents informing us of the status of the home, the data is not considered to be a 100% reliable indicator of the scale of second home ownership."
The table below sets out the figures for each year from 2009 onwards, including the change from the previous year.
Total | Second homes | Change over previous year (nos) | |||
Year | nos | nos | % share | Total | Second homes |
2009 | 249636 | 13995 | 5.6 | ||
2010 | 251957 | 14095 | 5.6 | 2321 | 100 |
2011 | 253817 | 14078 | 5.5 | 1860 | -17 |
2012 | 254368 | 14838 | 5.8 | 551 | 760 |
2013 | 258422 | 14318 | 5.5 | 4054 | -520 |
2014 | 261092 | 14253 | 5.5 | 2670 | -65 |
2015 | 263537 | 13981 | 5.3 | 2445 | -272 |
2016 | 266331 | 13753 | 5.2 | 2794 | -228 |
2017 | 268648 | 13767 | 5.1 | 2317 | 14 |
2018 | 271275 | 14189 | 5.2 | 2627 | 422 |
2019 | 273708 | 14015 | 5.1 | 2433 | -174 |
2020 | 275389 | 13642 | 5.0 | 1681 | -373 |
2021 | 277512 | 13260 | 4.8 | 2123 | -382 |
2022 | 279638 | 13292 | 4.8 | 2126 | 32 |
2023 | 282277 | 13140 | 4.7 | 2639 | -152 |
2024 | 286043 | 14123 | 4.9 | 3766 | 983 |
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