This publication is part of a series of results from Census 2022. More thematic publications will be published throughout 2023 as outlined in the Census 2022 Publication Schedule.
The large increases in the housing stock in the 1990s and 2000s resulted in increasing numbers of vacant dwellings and unoccupied holiday homes. As growth in the housing stock slowed between the 2011 and 2016 censuses, the number of vacant dwellings started to decline.
The number of vacant dwellings and unoccupied holiday homes combined increased by 86% between the 2002 and 2006 censuses. In total, in 2006, this equated to 266,322 housing units, made up of 216,533 vacant homes and 49,789 unoccupied holiday homes.
This total further increased to 289,451 in the 2011 census, consisting of 230,056 vacant homes and 59,395 holiday homes.
By the 2016 census, the number of vacant homes and holiday homes had started to decrease, falling to 245,460 dwellings including 183,312 vacant homes and 62,148 holiday homes.
The number of vacant homes and holiday homes combined continued to fall between 2016 and 2022. This was primarily driven by a fall in vacant homes, down 19,879 (-11%) to 163,433 dwellings between the 2016 and 2022 censuses while the number of holiday homes that were unoccupied on Census Night increased by 4,808 (+8%) to 66,956.
The vacancy rate (excluding holiday homes) fell to less than 8% in 2022 from over 9% in 2016 and 12% in 2011. Vacancy rates varied by property type.
Vacancy rates were lowest among semi-detached properties at 5% in both the 2016 and 2022 censuses.
The vacancy rate among terraced houses fell from 10% in 2016 to 7% in 2022.
Flats in converted buildings and bed-sits were most likely to be vacant at 18% in 2022, down from 28% in 2016.
Vacancy among apartments in purpose-built blocks dropped from 13% to 9%.
In total, 130,469 houses and 32,964 flats/apartments (including bed-sits) were vacant on the night of the census in 2022.
Between the 2016 and 2022 censuses, the number of vacant flats and apartments fell by 24% from 43,192 while the number of vacant houses fell by 7% from 140,120.
Vacancy generally fell faster in the midlands, west and north-west of the country and in Waterford where the number of vacant homes was down 25% between 2016 and 2022.
This differs from the 2011 to 2016 period when large drops in the numbers of vacant houses and apartments were recorded more in the east of the country, primarily around Dublin.
Map 4.1 was updated on 21 August 2023 due to an error detected in the CSO Electoral Divisions boundary file. Figures for Dalkey-Coliemore and Shankill-Rathsallagh were corrected.
Census data is collected over a period of 10 weeks and there is no mechanism to fully identify how long a dwelling has been or will be vacant. Some dwellings may be vacant for a relatively short period; for example, a rental property that is in between tenancies. In other cases, such as after the death of the occupant, it would not be possible to accurately predict how long a property will remain vacant. For the first time in the 2022 census, enumerators were required to identify a potential reason as to why a dwelling was vacant. This was generally done via local enquiries at the time of the census. It should be noted that it is possible that dwellings may have been vacant for more than one reason, e.g. death of the occupant and renovation.
Rental properties accounted for over one in five (33,653) of the vacant dwellings identified in the census. For context, there were over half a million occupied rental properties, suggesting approximately 7% of rental properties were vacant on Census Night. This figure could include short term lettings and properties that were between lets but may not have been advertised.
Just under 11% of vacant dwellings (17,472) were classified as ‘For Sale’.
There were 23,205 properties (14%) that were vacant for the purpose of renovation.
In over 27,000 properties, it was recorded that the former residents were deceased.
Nearly 11,000 properties were identified as vacant because the residents were in a nursing home or hospital and a further 5,018 where they were with relatives.
The reasons for vacancy varied from county to county.
Galway City (35%) was the area with the highest proportion of vacant rental properties.
In Roscommon (25%), Mayo (25%) and Galway County (24%), properties were vacant because, most often, the owner was deceased. In Galway City (7%) and Fingal (8%), this was much less common.
Renovation was most often the reason for vacancy in Dublin City (18%), Wicklow (17%) and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (17%).
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (11%) was the area with the highest proportion of vacant dwellings where the resident was in a nursing home or hospital. In the west and north-west, this was less likely to be the reason for vacancy.
Compared with rural dwellings, properties in the cities were, in general, less likely to be vacant because the residents had emigrated.
It is possible to identify dwellings that were vacant in both 2016 and 2022; this information can be used as an indicator of long-term vacancy.
There were just under 48,000 homes vacant in both censuses, 2% of the housing stock.
In the 2016 census, there were 65,039 dwellings vacant in both 2011 and 2016, meaning 3% of the housing stock at the time.
There were 23,072 dwellings vacant in all three censuses, 2011, 2016 and 2022, 1% of the housing stock.
In Dublin and the surrounding counties of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow, just 1% of homes were vacant in both 2016 and 2022.
Cork City and Galway City also had a vacancy rate of 1% in both censuses.
Leitrim, Mayo and Roscommon were the three counties with the highest proportion of vacant homes in both census years at 6%.
A more detailed breakdown by Local Electoral Area (LEA) shows that the proportion of homes vacant in both the 2016 and 2022 censuses was lowest, at less than 0.5%, in parts of Dublin and Kildare. The three LEAs with the lowest rates of homes vacant in both the 2016 and 2022 censuses were:
Lucan, South Dublin: 38 homes were vacant in both the 2016 and 2022 censuses (0.2%) out of a housing stock of 18,050.
Firhouse-Bohernabreena, South Dublin: 41 out of 12,871 (0.3%).
Ongar, Fingal: 40 out of 14,038 (0.3%).
Map 4.3 and Table 4.5 were updated on 21 August 2023 due to an error detected in the CSO Local Electoral Areas boundary file. Figures for Killiney-Shankill and Dún Laoghaire were corrected.
Explore census data from county level to neighbourhood (Small Area) level
