AND EVEN MORE EMPTY HOUSES - SMH

I'm surprised it's taken until now for people to start realising a lot of properties are lying vacant across the land. ("Thousands of empty homes adding to Sydney's housing crisis") The thought had already occurred to me albeit for a different reason than yield versus capital gain. When I travel I like to stay in self catered  accommodation. The network of homes available for me to stay in is extensive and this has prompted me to wonder how many "holiday homes" lie vacant for lengthy periods of time when they could perhaps be housing people continuously. Some self catering properties are very popular and earn their keep. Others seem only to be rented out during peak periods while lying vacant for much of the year. Also, many people keep a second home for their exclusive use for a month or so each year which constitutes another set of under utilised properties.
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I not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. I'm simply pointing out that a lot of dwellings do seem to be vacant for one reason or another. Meanwhile our cities are being ripped to pieces by large scale development on the basis of what seems to be an over inflated perception of a housing crisis.