The following audio files contain quotes from CSO Statistician Brendan Murphy about Census 2022 Profile 2 - Housing in Ireland publication.
Media outlets have permission to use the clip as long as they credit the CSO.
The total number of houses and apartments in Census 2022 was just over 2.1 million up 5% since 2016. Nearly 1.9 million of these dwellings were occupied on Census Night.
The number of dwellings that were vacant on Census Night fell to 163,000, giving a census vacancy rate of 8%. A further 67,000 unoccupied holiday homes were also counted. Interestingly, there were 48,000 dwellings that were vacant in both 2016 and 2022, giving a potential long term vacancy rate of 2%.
Around 1.2 million households owned their home either with or without a mortgage in Census 2022, while a further 330,000 homes were rented from a private landlord, up 7% since 2016.
We can see that around two-thirds of households owned their homes nationally and rates of home ownership were highest in Galway County and Meath, where over 75% of households were homeowners. In contrast, less than half of homes in Dublin and Galway cities were owned by their occupants. The age at which the majority of householders owned their own homes was 36, up from age 32 in Census 2011.
A new question was asked in Census 2022 about renewable energy and today’s results show that nearly a quarter of homes had at least one source of renewable energy.
Around 250,00 homes used wood as a renewable energy source. Just under 100,000 homes had solar panels to heat their water with 36,000 homes using them for electricity. Solar panels were much more common among homes built since the last census and were more widely used in counties such as Meath, Cork County, and Kildare.
The average weekly rent paid to private landlords in 2022 rose to €273, up by over a third from €200 per week in 2016.
The areas with the highest weekly rent were all in Dublin, with rents in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown averaging at over €440 per week. Average rents were much lower in other parts of the country, with tenants in Donegal and Leitrim paying less than €140 per week on average.
Our analysis also shows that nearly 52,000 renting households were paying weekly rent of over €400 per week in 2022 and almost 23,000 of these were in Dublin City.
Tá leagan Gaeilge den leathanch seo ar fáil. Féach Míreanna Fuaime.
Explore census data from county level to neighbourhood (Small Area) level
