Reported vacancy rates (the ones you’ll hear quoted in the media) are usually discovered by asking real estate agencies how many of the properties on their book

Reported vacancy rates (the ones you’ll hear quoted in the media) are usually discovered by asking real estate agencies how many of the properties on their books are currently available to rent. It doesn't include houses otherwise unavailable for rent such as holiday homes or those being 'land banked'. For some data on Low Use Properties (LUP's) and speculative vacancies in the UK and Australia respectively, see [1] and [2]. Also worth checking out official government statistics for NZ where the difference between the number of households and the number of residences is about 7.5% nationally. That compares with almost half that rate 25 years ago. This change has occurred amidst a property boom purportedly driven by a shortage of properties (really it is a speculative boom driven by a shortage of investment opportunities in the form of residential property). [1] https://theodi.org/event/friday-lunchtime-lecture-empty-homes-and-house-prices-is-there-a-relationship/ https://theodi.org/event/friday-lunchtime-lecture-empty-home... [2] https://www.prosper.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Speculative-Vacancies-9.pdf https://www.prosper.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Specul... The solution to this in my opinion is to remove the privileged tax status of property investors and introduce a wealth tax in the form of a Land Value Tax. Political suicide unfortunately.