Vacant dwellings: France excluding Mayotte
Vacant dwellings: France excluding Mayotte stood at 2,926 thousands in 2026, according to INSEE – Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (BDM). It is one of the indicators in the Housing stock and social housing table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 1982 to 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Housing stock and social housing table
| Indicator | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of vacant dwellings - France excluding Mayotte | 2,926 | 2,937 | 2,961 | 2,959 | 2,956 | 2,965 | 2,960 | 2,947 | 2,901 | 2,883 | |
| Number of main residences - One-family dwelling - France excluding Mayotte | 17,712 | 17,635 | 17,527 | 17,428 | 17,323 | 17,199 | 17,106 | 17,005 | 16,863 | 16,748 | |
| Number of main residences - Multi-family dwelling - France excluding Mayotte | 14,218 | 14,071 | 13,936 | 13,764 | 13,588 | 13,409 | 13,242 | 13,067 | 12,944 | 12,784 |
Understanding vacant dwellings: France excluding Mayotte
Uninhabited structures failing to qualify as either primary residences or occasional holiday lodgings form the basis of this inventory. To merit inclusion in this classification, a physical dwelling must sit empty due to estate settlement, pending renovation, owner reluctance to rent, or abandonment, whilst explicitly excluding furnished accommodations held strictly for seasonal use. Siblings in the overarching survey partition the national domestic property stock into primary habitats, secondary retreats, and this specific category of unoccupied units across the defined territorial perimeter.
Interpreting these figures requires awareness of structural changes in municipal tax enforcement, which frequently influence property owners to alter how units are declared. Analysts should rely on annual comparisons rather than short-term intervals to bypass regular administrative lags in local reporting cycles. Conflating abandoned properties with those undergoing light cosmetic updates between tenancies introduces analytical errors, as the drivers behind each subset diverge sharply.
Frequently asked questions
- What differentiates a vacant dwelling from a secondary home?
- Vacant dwellings remain entirely unoccupied for prolonged periods without serving as a seasonal retreat, whereas secondary homes are actively utilized by owners for holidays or occasional stays.
- Why might a property be counted as vacant?
- Properties enter this category due to pending sales, ongoing estate probate, extensive planned renovations, or owners choosing to keep them off the rental and sales market.
- Are newly built unsold housing units included here?
- Yes, newly completed residential units that have not yet found a buyer or renter at the time of the annual survey are registered as vacant.