Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what priority they place on the redevelopment of empty homes over new builds.

Tackling empty homes is essential to making the best use of the homes we already have. The Government has ensured that local authorities have powers and strong incentives to bring empty homes back in to use, and the number of empty homes has fallen to just over 200,000, down from 300,000 in 2010. These incentives and powers include the New Homes Bonus and the 50% council tax premium for homes empty for two years or longer. We have brought forward legislation that will double the maximum premium rate to 100%. We are also fully committed to delivering more of the right homes in the right places to fix the broken housing market. Our ambitious package of long term reforms puts us on track to create a housing market that delivers 300,000 homes a year on average by the middle of the next decade.