empty homes

 

PHOTO: ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF There’s been a huge spike in the number of empty homes in Auckland, a trend which a homelessness expert says is worrying. (File photo)

The number of empty properties in Auckland has risen by a “worrying” 18 per cent in five years.

In 2013, 33,360 private dwellings in the city were unoccupied. But by 2018 that figure had increased by 6000 to 39,393, data from the latest census showed.

Between the previous two censuses in 2006 and 2013 there was only a 0.1 per cent rise in vacant homes in Auckland.

Suburbs on the North Shore and in south Auckland saw the largest increase in the proportion of vacant homes between 2013 and 2018.

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