They have actually adjusted the criteria for vacancy when compared to the census:
> the vacant dwellings stock reported in this Q2 2023 GeoDirectory report differs from the figure in the latest preliminary 2022 Census…
>
> …five of the 10 reasons listed as to why a unit is vacant in the preliminary 2022 Census, could be considered as dwellings that might not normally be classified as vacant. These are units classified as: rental property (35,380), property under renovation (23,748), property for sale (17,826), property owner with relatives (5,138), and property a owner in nursing home or hospital (11,130)
Their classification still includes people who have emigrated, are deceased, abandoned farmhouses and ‘other’ but at least now maybe you won’t have people giving out about the 160K vacant homes in the census lying vacant and why can’t we wave a magic wand and use all of them.
Ironically the rate of vacancy decreasing is a symptom of the housing shortage. It means that not enough houses are being built and people are driven to buying and renovating old houses which were previously vacant for a reason.
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Original report here:
[https://www.geodirectory.ie/news/residential-buildings-report-2023](https://www.geodirectory.ie/news/residential-buildings-report-2023)
>The national residential vacancy rate dropped to 3.9% (81,712 units) in June 2023
The VR in q4 last year was [4.0% (83,662)](https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_ie/news/2023/ey-geodirectory-geoview-residential-issue-q4-2022.pdf), for context.
They have actually adjusted the criteria for vacancy when compared to the census:
> the vacant dwellings stock reported in this Q2 2023 GeoDirectory report differs from the figure in the latest preliminary 2022 Census…
>
> …five of the 10 reasons listed as to why a unit is vacant in the preliminary 2022 Census, could be considered as dwellings that might not normally be classified as vacant. These are units classified as: rental property (35,380), property under renovation (23,748), property for sale (17,826), property owner with relatives (5,138), and property a owner in nursing home or hospital (11,130)
Their classification still includes people who have emigrated, are deceased, abandoned farmhouses and ‘other’ but at least now maybe you won’t have people giving out about the 160K vacant homes in the census lying vacant and why can’t we wave a magic wand and use all of them.
Ironically the rate of vacancy decreasing is a symptom of the housing shortage. It means that not enough houses are being built and people are driven to buying and renovating old houses which were previously vacant for a reason.