The number of buildings standing empty dropped by 4.5% last year, according to the latest figures from government statistics agency CBS.

Just over 219,000 properties were unused on January 1, including nearly 180,000 houses. The total figure at the start of 2021 was almost 230,000.

Offices had the highest proportion of vacancies, with 9.6% of premises unoccupied, but this was down from 10.3% in 2021 and 10.5% a year earlier. The decline in empty homes was much smaller, from 2.4% to 2.3%.

The CBS also recorded an 8.2% vacancy rate for shops and 7.3% for industrial premises, both marginally smaller figures than in 2021.

Vacancy rates were relatively high on the eastern border, with 28% of shops in the Limburg municipality of Bergen standing empty, while in Appingedam, Groningen, 8% of houses were unoccupied, more than three times the national average of 2.6%.