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OVER 48,000 dwellings that were recorded as vacant in 2016 remained vacant in 2022, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
According to the latest figures, as recorded in the census this year, 166,752 were recorded as vacant in the State – a fall of 9% on 2016 numbers.
The CSO emphasised that the categories for vacancy were broad and not indicative of long-term vacancy.
35,000 vacant homes were vacant because they were up for rent, while the property owners of 27,000 dwellings had passed away, and a further 23,000 were under renovation.
The CSO states that properties that are classed as vacant in the census may only be vacant for a short period of time.
However, it said it is possible to provide some insight into the number of dwellings that were vacant for longer time periods by linking individual dwellings across the 2011, 2016 and 2022 censuses.
Over 90% of vacant dwellings included in Census 2022 could be linked back to Census 2016 and almost 85% back to Census 2011 as well.
More than 30% (48,387) of the dwellings vacant in 2022 that could be linked were also vacant in 2016. And of these 48,387 dwellings, nearly half (23,483) were also vacant in Census 2011.
Vacant Property Tax
The latest CSO stats come ahead of more clarity around vacancies being provided through the Local Property Tax (LPT) data, which is due to be published shortly.
Up until now, the sheer scale of vacant properties dotted around Ireland has been largely unknown.
The Government has committed to bringing in vacant property tax this year, but held off on bringing in the measure last year, stating it would be preferred to wait for an up-to-date picture of vacancy rates in Ireland through the local property tax returns, which were completed in November 2021.
A report on the number of homes that a vacant property tax would apply to is currently being considered by the Department of Finance.
The latest CSO stats will also feed into considerations.
While there are reports that introducing the vacant property tax could be further delayed as department officials are also seeking ESB connection information, a Government source told The Journal that the electricity usage stats would be “readily available” and would not cause a delay in introducing the tax, stating that for instance, the total number of domestic ESB connections in Q1 2022 was 6,540.
They added that any new vacant property tax introduced in Budget 2023 is not aimed as a tax raising measure but more of a deterrent.
Reasons for vacancy
The reasons cited for why a property was vacant shows that rental properties accounted for over 20% (35,380 dwellings) of the vacant residential units identified in the census.
This figure included short term lettings and properties that were between lets but may not have been advertised.
A further almost 18,000 properties (11%) were for sale.
This included dwellings that were sale agreed or recently sold.
Galway City (38%) and Dublin City (30%) were the areas with the highest proportions of vacant rental properties.
In contrast, Roscommon (16%), Cork County (16%) and Galway County (17%) had the lowest proportions of vacant rental units.
In Roscommon (25%), Galway County (24%) and Mayo (24%) properties were most often vacant because the owner was deceased.
In Galway City (6%) and Fingal (8%) this was much less common.
Properties in the cities were in general less likely to be vacant because the residents had emigrated than for rural dwellings.
Abandoned farmhouses were almost non-existent in urban areas and more common in rural areas such as Leitrim (17%) and Sligo (16%).
Of the vacancy data released today, the CSO states that it does not include holiday homes, of which there were 66,135, compared with 62,148 in 2016.
The CSO states that the dwelling being classified as vacant for census purposes does not necessarily imply that it is available for re-use.
The CSO has said that the census vacancy is essentially “a point in time” measure which may be different to other reported measures of vacancy which may focus more on longer term vacancy.
It may be unoccupied because it is up for sale or rent, under renovation, or if the owner has passed away, or is in a nursing home.
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It’s not in the least bit radical to say that vacant properties should be immediately taxed over 90%. Unnaceccapble to have an FF/FG/G purposefully engineered housing crisis, to see this statistic and do nothing about it.
@Sylvia Power: to say that the current housing crises was purposefully engineered by FF, FG and greens is absolutely ridiculous and incorrect. There is a housing crises in many many countries globally.
@Sylvia Power:
Our govt are not providing housing as their policy is to ‘leave it to the market’, and the market is also not providing housing as their motto is ‘less supply equals more demand’.
@Ciaran: There is a housing crisis globally which is due to a myriad of common factors: incentives for investment funds, no rent caps, minimal vacancy taxes, no protection for renters and decreased social security and high levels of debt. Successive Irish governments have long dabbled in encouraging many of the above, as have many other governments (Canada, UK, Australia and USA are all experiencing a housing crisis too due their own governments similar actions).
@Ciaran: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael engineered this to facilitate their friends in the vulture funds. 11 years and the problem has gone from crisis to disaster.
@Sylvia Power: First we had Nama who bulk sold at huge discounts to Vulture funds and then the government laid out the red carpet to Cuckoo funds by passing legislation to give them an exemption from paying stamp duty. If an ordinary couple wanted to buy a second hand house they’d have to pay stamp duty on the market price of the property but if an international investment fund (Cuckoo) wanted to buy swathes of homes to rent out they would pay no stamp duty giving them a huge advantage. It was FF/FG/GP who passed this legislation last year.
@Dean: Over one third of New homes built last year were by the State. Another 25% were one off detached homes. Not sure that one can build many more social units per annum, or you take completely from those looking to buy a family home themselves.
@Leo’s Spin Department: that’s just blather.
@Leo’s Spin Department: look at the statistics for the numbers leaving farming, and the consequent consolidation of farms that leaves empty farmhouses abandoned. Many of these wouldn’t met the standards for renting, and/or aren’t located where there is demand.
The answers lie in the stats, not in a daft blame game.
@Frank Cauldhame: well said Frank I didn’t actually know that,,but nothing surprises me any more in this totally corrupt land.
I was a census enumerator. Lots of vacant properties in my area, and while many were ‘habitable’ per the strict criteria (basically weatherproof) many wouldn’t be habitable to modern standards- and I’m not talking luxury by any means. Any government scheme to turn these into viable housing would involve huge investment.
@ELAINE: I also did the census on two occasions in two different rural areas. Again 10% vacant on both occasions. Most of the vacant houses were owned or leased by the local authority, Limerick CC.
Did it not emerge lately that it takes the idiots that run Cork City Council 80 weeks to re let a council house.
Has to be a way of easing the housing crisis with these properties?
@Brian Dunne: well there are 59,000 on the council housing waiting list and there are 166,000 vacant properties. I’m sure some kind of part solution can be found but if those on the list have a wish list of things that they require of their new council house then it’s unlikely to have much of an impact. There certainly should be some sort of use it or lose it legislation though.
@GrumpyAulFella:
1)According to the Parliamentary Budget Office in May the number of households in need of social housing could be double Government estimates ie 122,000 HOUSEHOLDS!
(Properties not fit for habitation weren’t included in housing stock or vacancy figures according to the CSO.)
2)It also notes that housing stock increased by 1% a year while the population grew by 1.2% a year between 2016 and 2022.
Over the next 28 years the CSO had estimated population growth is to be an extra million people.Plus that doesn’t take into account people coming to live in Ireland.
3)The two main reasons for homelessness are unaffordable rents or people getting Notices of Termination from their landlords. According to Census 2011,Census 2016 and the homeless figures for April 2022 homeless Families increased by 341.8% and homeless Children increased by 544.2%.(Total homeless increased by 163.89%)
To conclude there should be a sense of URGENCY around increasing real affordable housing stock and social housing stock based on the need and population growth plus the estimated population growth.
I know the article does explain it but it is somewhat misleading and baiting journalism. Lots of vacant properties aren’t long term vacant or are vacant for very good reasons. The majority of vacant properties (by census definition) aren’t readily available for reoccupancy.
@Sean Ryan: I don’t think the census was detailed enough in its questions in this area. Had they really intended to use it as a property vacancy survey then I’m sure that they could have refined their questioning. They seem to be taking a fairly broad view of unoccupied and then leading some to believe that these properties could be used to take 59,000 off the housing list. No doubt a percentage could be used but that 166K figure is misleading.
There’s a very easy solution to find an accurate figure.
We have an eircode for every building in the state. We also have an MPRN for every electricity meter.
The ESB uses eircode so we can verify on reports.
Generate a three year monthly report, (even bi-monthly), clash that against the eircode report to verify & set a baseline amount of usage (to allow for slow drain, such as fridges etc), set an upper limit to account for “standard” usage.
There’s your empty properties.
I could have this done in a fortnight with access to the data.
Note: not all properties will be habitable. That would require a physical visit to check but again, that’s a couple of months with a feet on the street team on short engagement.
Three months tops to cover the country.
@Sequoia: it is not factual to state “We have an eircode for every building in the state”.
This comes as a result of misinformation from those behind Eircode.
1) At any 1 time, 1000′s of new properties have no Eircode & this may persist for months & sometimes longer
2) 1000′s of buildings which use electrity, have people using them, have a loan or mortgage on them & have an insurance or safety responsibility but have no allocated postal address, have no Eircode.
3) The published rules for Eircode allocation by An Post in the 2014 design document, require a postal need & provide for Eircode “retirement”. This means unoccupied or derelict buildings, currently with no postal need may have no Eircode.
The irony is that An Post does not use Eircode to deliver mail but still has control over allocation such that it undermines use for many non-postal applications.
The current contract for Eircode expires next year, so there is a perfect opportunity before the contract is renewed to fix functionality & operational flaws. No 1 on that list would be to remove An Post’s control.
No 2 would be for the Dept of Communications to circulate factual information about the code.
It’s not in the least bit radical to demand that these properties are taxed over 90%. Absurd to have a purposefully engineered FF/FG/Greens housing crisis, to see these statistics and to do absolutely nothing about it.
@Sylvia Power: The usual looney left palaver. Most of the vacant houses are owned by the local authorities.
@Sylvia Power: 90% of what exactly?
The property may be vacant because the owner can’t afford to repair it to a legal livable condition. So 90% of what?
Prtb is unfit for purpose. Even if rent’s are not being paid it’s impossible for a landlord to ask a bad tenant to move on. Even if the tenant has damaged the house it’s impossible to sort it out without a huge amount of stress and bother. The prtb will tell you ” you can’t make them homeless ” yet big vulture fund apartment blocks can evict whenever they like. No landlord wants to evict anyone but they have to pay mortgages and or expenses taxes etc and it’s becoming a disincentive to have a rental property nowadays. The amount of tax landlords must pay on income means it’s a disincentive to rent out a property. All in all the government and the prtb have failed to be 1 fair 2 equitable to both landlord and tenant 3 supply and demand worked better before over regulation it seems.
@Jim Casey: I’m not a landlord btw and I have witnessed bad tenants trashing houses. Where properties have had to be gutted and fully rebuild inside. No property owner wants that
These figures are useless unless we know why properties are vacant. How many are uninhabitable? How many are vacant because of estate issues? How many are located in the boonies far away from services?
How is there that many houses not been used when we have such a housing crisis,are some of them been taking by the banks,is there privste estates that were not finished,why don’t the local Council in these places buy them and finish them off,it’s suppose to be 12 weeks when someone moves from a council house too another,I know someone is waiting almost 6 months,and constantly ringing about it,an a lot of the work that was done in it,makes the house look so much better than when the Council gave it,but the Council said too her it has to go back to the way it was,there’s going to be timber floors and doors ripped out,the only thing left will be the tiling on the bathroom if the last person done it,that’s a lot of the delay,it’s taking too long to turn over a house..
My complaints to the competition authority fell on deaf ears and the ma branded them luxury apartments because they conform to basic European standards http://www.newstalk.com/news/leaving-dublin-luxury-apartments-vacant-doesnt-break-competition-rules-review-finds-1188114
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