Vacant House
Unoccupied House
noun
You learned that 空く means "to become empty," right? Well, apply that to a house and you get a vacant house or an unoccupied house.
空き家 refers to a house that's no longer being lived in. It often implies that the house has been vacant for some time, possibly due to a lack of prospective buyers or renters.
空き's reading is the one you learned with 空く, so you should be good there. 家 uses a new reading, though — や — so here's a mnemonic to help you remember it:
When your Japanese realtor shows you a vacant house, you're probably gonna say "yah (や)" to it. Japan has a lot of nice unoccupied houses that are way cheaper than the market average, so when you see the prices you're going to be screaming, "Oh yah! Heck yah! Sign me up!"
空き家になる
to become a vacant house
空き家にいる
to be in a vacant house
空き家に入る
to enter a vacant house
空き家バンク
vacant house bank, vacant house registry
空き家プロジェクト
a vacant house project
空き家データベース
vacant house database
空き家をかりる
to rent a vacant house
空き家を活用する
to utilize a vacant house
空き家をさがす
to search for a vacant house
あの家はもうずっと空き家になってるんだ。
That house has been vacant for a long time.
やったー！タダで空き家をかりれることになった！
Yay! I got the opportunity to rent a vacant house for free!
空き家を活用してコミュニティスペースにする空き家プロジェクトを始めました。
We have started a vacant house project to utilize unoccupied houses as community spaces.