This release is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources.
For the purposes of this release, a dwelling is considered to move out of vacancy when following a period of at least four consecutive quarters of electricity consumption below 180kWh per quarter, electricity consumption rises above 180kWh in the next quarter. Conversely, a dwelling is considered to move into vacancy following four consecutive quarters of electricity consumption below 180kWh having previously consumed more than this amount. This methodology entails that no dwellings which were newly built in 2024 could be considered vacant for the purposes of this publication.
Table 2.1 displays the numbers of dwellings moving out of and into vacancy each quarter in 2024. In 2024, we found that 29,268 dwellings moved out of vacancy and 27,163 dwellings became vacant. Therefore, 2,105 more dwellings moved out of vacancy than moved into vacancy in the 12 months to the end of 2024.
| Table 2.1 Flows Into and Out of Vacancy, 2024 | ||
| Quarter | Dwellings moving out of vacancy | Dwellings becoming vacant |
| Q1 | 10,089 | 5,744 |
| Q2 | 5,947 | 7,723 |
| Q3 | 6,507 | 6,669 |
| Q4 | 6,725 | 7,027 |
| 2024 | 29,268 | 27,163 |
There may be a seasonal quarterly trend in the number of dwellings moving out of vacancy. In recent years, there has been a spike in the number of dwellings moving out of vacancy in Quarter 1, this is particularly evident in 2023 and 2024. Figure 2.1 and Table 2.2 below show the number of dwellings moving into and out of vacancy each quarter.
In this release, the dwelling characteristics of both vacancy flow groups in 2024 are analysed using administrative data matching. The results are shown in Table 2.3 below.
In 2024, 29,268 dwellings moved out of vacancy. Some 69% of these dwellings were located in rural areas. Three-quarters (75%) were houses (detached, semi-detached or terraced). Dwellings that moved out of vacancy were also more likely to have a relatively high BER rating. For example, 22% of these dwellings had a BER rating A or B. Looking at year of construction, 28% of dwellings that moved out of vacancy were built in 2001 or later.
The local authorities with the highest percentage of dwellings moving out of vacancy were Dublin City (11%), Cork County (8%), and Donegal (7%) in 2024. More than eight in ten (83%) had three or more bedrooms. Some 44% of dwellings moving out of vacancy had low electricity consumption for four quarters only, indicating that they generally had been vacant for shorter periods of time than the broader vacant dwelling stock (see the section Duration of Vacancy below).
In 2024, 27,163 dwellings became vacant. Over two-thirds (67%) of these dwellings were in urban areas. Almost eight in ten (78%) were houses (detached, semi-detached or terraced). Also, dwellings that became vacant were more likely to have a low BER rating. For example, 62% had a BER rating of D, E, F or G. Looking at year of construction, 47% of dwellings that became vacant in 2024 were built before 1970 compared with 23% of all dwellings built in the same period with a BER rating.
The local authorities with the highest percentage of dwellings that became vacant were Dublin City (13%), Cork County (8%), and Waterford City and County (7%) in 2024. More than eight in ten (81%) dwellings that became vacant had three or more bedrooms.
Additional information is available where electricity connections can be linked to Building Energy Rating (BER) assessments. In Q4 2024, more than a third (34%) of vacant dwellings could be matched to a BER assessment. Around 37% of vacant dwellings which could be linked to a BER assessment were detached houses, with a further 18% semi-detached houses. In contrast, at national level, around a third (33%) all of dwellings with BER assessments were detached houses with a further 27% semi-detached houses (See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.4). See Background Notes and Methodology for more details on BER assessments and data.
In Q4 2024, vacant dwellings were more likely to have a low BER of F or G. Ratings of F or G were given to almost a third (33%) of vacant dwellings in Q4 2024 in their most recent BER assessment, but only 10% of all BER-assessed dwellings had one of these ratings.
Of the BER rated vacant dwellings in Q4 2024, where the main source of heating could be identified, 41% used oil, 25% gas, and 22% used electricity. For those vacant dwellings in Q4 2024 where a match could be made to BER data, around 4% or 891 recorded Solar Energy as a renewable energy source. Note: Solar energy includes both solar thermal installations for water and space heating and solar photovoltaic installations for electricity generation.
Table 2.4 shows the characteristics of vacant dwellings in Q4 2024 by various groupings, based on ESB Networks data and matching it to the BER assessment data.
Using ESB designations, more than half (53%) of vacant dwellings in Q4 2024 were in rural areas, with 47% in urban areas. This is in contrast with the mix of all dwellings in the quarter, where less than a third (30%) were in rural areas. The rate of vacancy among rural dwellings was 5.4% whereas the rate among urban dwellings was lower at 2.2% in Q4 2024 (See Figure 2.4). Households were defined as urban or rural based on their ESB connection tariff. See Background Notes and Methodology for more details of this definition.
Vacant dwellings were generally older than the overall dwelling stock. Only 6% of all dwellings which had a BER rating were built before 1919 compared with 19% of vacant dwellings which could be matched to the BER data. Furthermore, only 12% of all BER-rated dwellings were built between 1919 and 1960 compared with 24% of vacant dwellings. Dwellings built since 2001 accounted for 41% of all dwellings but only 18% of those which were vacant (See Figure 2.5).
This section disaggregates the stock of vacant dwellings in Q4 2024 by the duration of vacancy, based upon consistently low electricity consumption. Almost two-thirds (64%) of vacant dwellings in Q4 2024 had low electricity consumption for more than two years (nine or more quarters), this equates to 45,137 vacant dwellings. One in ten (10% or 7,027 vacant dwellings) had low consumption for four quarters only (See Figure 2.6 and Table 2.5).
In the results for Census 2022, the CSO published a six year measure of long-term vacancy. Using the ESB residential connections data, a comparable time period for vacancy can be examined. There were 37,143 vacant dwellings that had below 180 kWh metered electricity consumption for 24 consecutive quarters for the period beginning in Q1 2019 and ending in Q4 2024. At Local Authority level, the highest six year vacancy rate was in Leitrim at 5.2%, while South Dublin had the lowest rate at 0.2%. Vacancy rates, vacant dwellings, and dwelling stock (ESB residential connections) numbers for long-term vacant dwellings by local authority are available in the PxStat Table VAC23.
By Local Electoral Area, the highest six year vacancy rates were in Swinford in Mayo and Athlone in Westmeath (both at 5.7%), while the lowest rates were found in Castleknock, Palmerstown-Fonthill, Swords and Tallaght Central in Dublin (all at 0.3%) in Q4 2024 (See Map 2.1.) Vacancy rates, vacant dwellings, and dwelling stock (ESB residential connections) numbers for long-term vacant dwellings by local electoral area can be found in the PxStat Table VAC24.
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