Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Additional Measures of Vacancy

Additional Measures of Vacancy

CSO statistical publication, , 11am

CSO Frontier Series outputs may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release.
 

Urban and Rural Vacancy Rates

The vacancy rate for rural areas was 7.5% in Q4 2021, over two-and-a-half times the rate of 2.9% for urban areas. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

There was very little change in the vacancy rate for urban areas between the start of 2016 and the end of 2021. Over this time period it stayed in the range of 2.9% to 3.3%.

The vacancy rate for rural areas fell from 8.6% to 7.8% between the start of 2016 and the end of 2018, before rising to 8.2% in Q3 2019. It then fell gradually to stand at 7.5% by end of 2021. This data is also available in PxStat table VAC02.

Households were defined as urban or rural based on their ESB connection tariff. See Background Notes and Methodology for more details of this definition.

Figure 2.1 Urban-Rural Vacancy Rates Q1 2016 - Q4 2021
Table 2.1 Urban and Rural Vacancy Rates, 2016-2021

Dwelling Type Vacancy Rates

There has been some upward trajectory in the vacancy rates for apartments since 2019 in contrast to the other dwelling types. The percentage of dwellings vacant in Q4 2021 is highest for apartments (3.7%) and lowest for semi-detached (1.8%). See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2. Dwelling type is available where electricity connections can be linked to Building Energy Rating (BER) assessments. In Q4 2021, just under half - 44.5% - of dwellings could be matched to a BER assessment. See Background Notes and Methodology for more details on BER assessments and data.

In Dublin only, the vacancy rate has been highest for apartments across the whole time series, where this stood at 3.6% in Q4 2021. This is double the next highest rate in this quarter - 1.8% for terraced houses. See Figure 2.3. Vacancy rates at a national level and for Dublin and the rest of Ireland are also available in PxStat table VAC03.

Figure 2.2 Dwelling Type Vacancy Rates Q1 2016 - Q4 2021
Table 2.2 Vacancy Rates by Dwelling Type, 2016-2021

Figure 2.3 Vacancy rates by Dwelling Type in Dublin, 2016 – 2021

Length of Low Consumption

A dwelling is defined as vacant if it has less than 180kwh electricity consumption for at least four consecutive quarters.  Nearly seven in ten (68.5%) vacant dwellings in Q4 2021 have had this low consumption for over two years (nine or more quarters), while just over one in ten (11.8%) has just had low consumption for a fourth quarter. See Figure 2.4.

The pattern for length of low consumption is different in Dublin. Five in ten (49.7%) vacant dwellings had low consumption for over two years (nine quarters) and two in ten (20.4%) had so for just one year (four quarters). See Figure 2.5. 

The length of low consumption is available in a time series from 2017 onwards, with three breakdowns – National, Dublin and outside Dublin. See PxStat table VAC07

Figure 2.4 Distribution of Number of Quarters Low Consumption of Vacant Dwellings Q4 2021
Figure 2.5 Distribution of Number of Quarters Low Consumption of Vacant Dwellings Q4 2021 - Dublin Only

Distributions of All and Vacant Dwellings

Table 2.3 shows the distribution of vacant dwellings and all dwellings in Q4 2021 by various groupings.

Just over a half (52.5%) of vacant dwellings in Q4 2021 were in rural areas, with 47.5% in urban areas. This is in contrast with the mix of all dwellings in this quarter, where less than a third (30.2%) were in rural areas. 

There was a BER rating of F or G for 35.3% of vacant dwellings compared with only 10.2% of all dwellings. Vacant dwellings are older (based on BERs) compared with all matched dwellings in Q4 2021. This pattern was also visible for properties in Dublin and in the rest of Ireland. Only 6.3% of all dwellings were built before 1919 compared with 19.2% of vacant dwellings. Just 11.6% of all dwellings in Ireland were built between 1919 and 1960 compared with 22.5% of vacant dwellings. Dwellings built since 2001 accounted for 39.9% of all dwellings but only 22.8% of those which were vacant.

The type of owner comes from Local Property Tax (LPT) records linked to ESB Networks consumption records. In Dublin, other institutions own 4.7% of all dwellings that could be matched to an LPT record but own over double this percentage - 13.6% - of vacant dwellings. 

Data showing proportion of vacant dwellings and all dwellings for some of these groupings for quarters back to Q1 2016 is available in the PxStat tables VAC08 (urban-rural), VAC09 (dwelling type), VAC10 (BER Group) and VAC11 (construction period).

Table 2.3 Vacant Dwellings and All Dwellings by Urban-Rural, Dwelling Type, BER, Construction Period and Ownership Type, Q4 2021

Dwellings from ESB Networks data in Q4 2021 were matched with records from the 2016 Census of Population to identify the dwelling type and age group of the reference person in the dwelling as of Census day 2016. This match was only possible for dwellings which were occupied in the 2016 Census and with unique Eircodes on both files to link.  Just under half - 49.6% - of dwellings could be matched.  See Background Notes and Methodology for more information on this matching to Census 2016.

Vacant dwellings were much less likely to be owned with a mortgage/loan than all dwellings. Just 11.4% of vacant dwellings were owned with a mortgage/loan compared with 33.1% of all dwellings. This pattern was also observed in Dublin and the Rest of Ireland. See Table 2.4.

There was a higher proportion of vacant dwellings rented from a private landlord (28.6%) compared with all dwellings (20.7%). This difference was more pronounced in Dublin, where 34.9% of vacant dwellings were rented from a private landlord compared with 21.5% of all dwellings.

Vacant dwellings were more likely to be owned by older people. Nearly four in ten (38.1%) of vacant dwellings were owned by a person aged 65 or over, compared just over two in ten (21.7%) of all dwellings.

Table 2.4 Vacant and All Dwellings by Census 2016 Tenure Type and Age Group of Reference Person, Q4 20211