At least 560 homes sit empty in Launceston and Hobart for three years, prompting call for vacant property tax

The Tenants' Union of Tasmania obtained for the data under Right to Information laws, asking TasWater for the number of residential premises that have used less than 10 per cent of the annual average water usage for three consecutive years.

A similar method is used in Victoria to determine vacant properties, except it only requires six months of water usage being under 10 per cent of the average for a property to be deemed vacant.

Tenants' Union principal solicitor Benedict Bartl said this meant the figure for Tasmania was almost certainly an under-estimate, and it also did not include vacant apartments in complexes that have a single water meter.

Launceston had 256 properties - or 0.9 per cent of the city's total - under the average usage for the three years, 457 for two of the years, and 456 for one year. Hobart and Glenorchy had a combined 308 for the three years, about 0.7 per cent of total residential premises.

The union decided to obtain data just for these areas due to a lack of shacks in cities.

If similar rates occurred in Burnie, the city would have between 49 and 77 empty premises.

Mr Bartl said the government repeatedly talks about increasing "supply" as a way of easing housing stress, but there was an easier solution that could be brought in instantly.

"The answer is staring them in the face. Encourage those people with empty properties to make them available to people now," he said.

"Median house prices in Tasmania have gone up 70 per cent over the last five years. Some investors are perfectly happy to just accept the gain in the value of the property, without needing to have tenants."

The Tenants' Union called for a 1 per cent tax on empty homes in the cities, as a percentage of the property's value. Mr Bartl estimates this would have raised almost $10 million in three years to be put towards social housing, while also acting as an incentive for owners to list properties on the rental market.

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Such policies exist in Melbourne and in Vancouver in Canada, while in the United Kingdom local councils have the power to bring in these tax arrangements. South Australia has a similar policy on unused land.

"What we really need to do is recognise that housing at the moment is a scarce resource and we should be pulling all levers to ensure there is adequate housing for everybody that needs it," Mr Bartl said.

The government has promised to build 3500 new social housing properties by 2027. There are 4388 applicants on the housing priority waiting list.

Housing Minister Michael Ferguson said the government would not be looking to bring in an empty homes tax, and had not seen the data obtained by the Tenants' Union.

"Without clarification on what is captured in their statistics, regarding vacant lots, houses under construction or in the planning phase or other factors that might result in low water usage it is very difficult to say how relevant the statistics provided by the Tenant's Union are," he said.

Mr Ferguson reiterated the government's view that increasing "supply" of new dwellings was its policy decision in attempting to address Tasmania's housing affordability and availability crisis.

"Our election commitments will improve planning outcomes, increase home ownership and access to private rentals, and deliver a comprehensive long term, Tasmanian Housing Strategy to address housing related issues into the future," he said.

The government has a HomeShare program for low-income Tasmanians, is continuing with the HomeBuilder program, has a rebate scheme to encourage landholders to release their land to the market and a "secondary dwelling incentive" program for rentals.