More than 80,000 homes are still empty across the country, despite introduction of vacant property tax
New figures show that close to 81,000 residential properties were vacant in the final three months of last year.
This has barely changed since the same three-month period in 2023, according to data compiled by An Post’s data company GeoDirectory.
Dublin had the fewest vacant residential properties. The west of Ireland counties, including Leitrim, Mayo and Roscommon, recorded vacancy rates as high as 12pc of the housing stock.
Nationally, there are 2.17 million residential properties in the State. This means the 80,689 vacant homes represent 3.8pc of the total housing stock.
The average vacancy rate fell in 19 of the 26 counties in the State last year, according to GeoDirectory report, prepared in conjunction with consultants EY.
The highest vacancy rates are in Leitrim, where just short of 12pc of the housing stock is empty. In Mayo, the vacancy rate is 10.6pc, and it is 10.3pc in Roscommon. Donegal has a vacancy rate of 9pc, with Sligo recorded at 8.2pc.
At the other end of the scale, the lowest vacancy rates were found in Dublin, with just 1.2pc of residential properties vacant. Kildare, Waterford and Carlow also had low vacancy rates.
Nationally, the vacancy rate is down just 0.1 percentage points since the same three-month period in 2023, a figure economists would regard as statistically insignificant.
There is a high number of empty properties despite the recent introduction of a vacant homes tax, put in place to encourage people to sell or rent out empty homes.
Lorcan Sirr, a housing policy analyst and academic at TU Dublin, said this country has a problem with vacant properties.
“There is a reluctance to use strong measures to tackle vacancy,” he said.
Dr Sirr said Central Statistics Office census figures, which use a different methodology, were showing higher levels of vacancy. Both GeoDirectory and the CSO exclude holiday homes.
Just 2,377 homes were liable for the vacant homes tax last year, according to Revenue figures.
The tax is five times the rate of the Local Property Tax and is charged on homes occupied for fewer than 30 days over a 12-month period.
The lack of movement in the GeoDirectory measure of vacancy came despite a surge in new “address points” being added to its database.
Last year a total of 34,686 new residential address points were added to the database, an increase of 21pc compared to 2023.
A total of 22,251 residential buildings were classified as being under construction in December – 2.3pc lower than the corresponding period in December 2023.
GeoDirectory found that there were a total of 20,092 derelict residential units scattered nationwide in the last three months of last year – 3.3pc lower than the corresponding total in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The average house price increased in all 26 counties in the State last year, with a national residential property price average of €399,763.
There were 46,894 residential property transactions in the 12 months to last November, 20.6pc of which were for new dwellings.
GeoDirectory chief executive Dara Keogh said there had been a substantial increase in the number of residential address points added to the GeoDirectory database throughout last year, but the number of buildings under construction has remained relatively stable.
This indicated that the pipeline of new homes would continue into this year.