Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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810. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide the latest available data on the number of vacant properties by county, in tabular form. [17403/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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There are a number of sources of data on vacancy in Ireland, including Central Statistics Office (CSO) data based on the Census, GeoDirectory data and Revenue data based on an analysis of Local Property Tax returns.

The preliminary findings of Census 2022 provide a figure of 166,752 vacant homes nationwide or 7.8% of the housing stock. This represents a 9% reduction on the Census 2016 figure. The CSO notes that their Census figure of vacant homes contains many dwellings that may be unoccupied for a relatively short period of time (e.g. properties for sale, rental properties, new builds and houses being renovated) and that a home deemed vacant does not necessarily mean a home is available for re-use or to house other people. Census 2022 provides data on the number of vacant properties in each county.

GeoDirectory is an electronic register of addresses matched to their geographical locations that has been jointly developed by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland. Data on vacant dwellings is gathered initially by postal operatives in An Post. The GeoDirectory Database (Q4 2022) classified 83,662 dwellings as vacant, a 0.4% drop when compared to the previous year, with a vacancy rate nationally of 4.%. GeoDirectory provides data on the number of vacant properties in each county.

The Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Act 2021 facilitated the collection of data on vacant property through Local Property Tax (LPT) returns. The Revenue Commissioners analysed the data on vacancy from these returns and published a report detailing its findings in July 2022. In total, 57,206 (3.2%) properties were indicated by their owners as being vacant on 1 November 2021. The analysis indicated that levels of vacancy in LPT liable properties are low across all counties and in line with rates considered normal in a properly functioning housing market. LPT returns provide data on the number of vacant properties in each local authority area.

In January, the CSO released a new vacancy indicator based on low or zero electricity consumption over a year. This indicates that national vacancy rates have fallen from 4.9% at the start of 2016, to 4.3% at the end of 2021. This energy consumption indicator provides data on the number of vacant properties in each county.

While varying levels of vacancy are indicated in the different data sources, the overall trend is downwards and vacancy levels are reducing.

A Vacancy Survey project, supported by my Department, commenced in three local authorities in December 2022. The objective is to capture data, granular and high level, on the number of vacant dwellings in each local authority. This will facilitate direct engagement with property owners at local authority level in order to bring the properties identified back into use. This will be rolled out across all local authorities in 2023.