The Scottish Government said the latest council tax data — for September 2024 — shows there were 21,606 second homes in Scotland and 43,538 properties that had been empty for more than six months.

About 73% of the empty houses were categorised as long-term empty homes — empty for over 12 months.

Further, 47,779 “unoccupied exemptions” have “generally been empty and unfurnished for less than six months.”

Compared with 2023, there was a decrease of 10% (2,455) in second homes. This may relate to the 100% council tax premium on second homes that came into effect in April 2024.

There was a decrease of 6% (2,679) in empty homes, which is likely to be associated with a clarification in the data specification to ensure only empty homes at or over six months would be counted in the data.

There was an increase of 12% (3,316) in long term empty homes (empty for over 12 months) and a decrease of 1% (486) in unoccupied exemptions.