Housing stock grew by just 635 homes in last five years
CENSUS HOUSING DATA REVEALS: NUMBER OF VACANT DWELLINGS FELL ABOVE AVERAGE HOME OWNERSHIP INCREASE IN PEOPLE LIVING IN RENTED ACCOMMODATION PRIVATE RENTS ABOVE AVERAGE
Over the past five years Wicklow’s housing stock only grew by 635 houses.
Last Thursday the Central Statistics Office published the first thematic report from Census 2016 focusing on Housing in Ireland.
The results show that a total of 2,003,645 houses and apartments in the State were enumerated in the 2016 Census.
Of these, 1,697,665 were occupied by persons usually resident in the State. There were 183,312 vacant houses and apartments, while the census also counted 62,148 vacant holiday homes.
Wicklow’s housing stock grew to 54,986 from 54,351 – an increase of 1.2 per cent since April 2011.
Worryingly, the figures show that despite an increase of 173,613 people in the county compared to 2011, the rate of increase of permanently occupied homes slowed significantly.
The figures show that Wicklow had 49,005 permanent occupied dwellings in April 2016, compared with 47,579 in April 2011. The rate of increase was three per cent, which was considerably slower than the 2006-2011 rate of 12 per cent.
At a State level, there were 1,697,665 permanent housing units occupied at the time of the census, an increase of 2.9 per cent (48,257) since April 2011.
On the good news front, the number of vacant dwellings in Wicklow has fallen to 4,454 – down from 5,377 in 2011. These comprised 2,685 houses, 729 apartments and 1,040 holiday homes.
The vacancy rate has dropped from 9.9 per cent to 8.1 per cent This is slightly higher than the Leinster average of 8 per cent but significantly lower than the national rate of 12.3 per cent.
Nationally, there was a 15 per cent drop in the number of all vacant dwellings (including holiday homes) from 289,451 in 2011 to 245,460 in April 2016. The 2016 figure comprises 140,120 houses, 43,192 apartments and 62,148 holiday homes.
There was an increase in the number of people in rented accommodation according to the Census figures with 12,833 households in rental accommodation in 2016, compared with 12,219 in 2011. The average weekly rent paid to private landlords was €207.48, an increase on the 2011 figure which was €183.61. This figure of €207.48 is more than the national average weekly rent. For the country overall, 22,323 more households were renting their accommodation compared to 2011, bringing the total renting to 497,111. Since 2011, the national average weekly rent paid to private landlords grew to €199.92.
Home ownership overtakes renting in Wicklow at the age of 35. Nationally, by the age of 35, more people own their own home than rent, compared with age 32 in 2011. Given that this age was 26 in 1991, this shows a clear long-term trend. The home ownership rate for Wicklow was 71.6 per cent compared with 72.9 per cent in 2011.
The latest results show that the number of permanent households in Wicklow in 2016 stands at 49,005. This compares to 922,908 in Leinster and a total of 1,697,665 nationally. In 2011, there were 47,579 permanent households in Wicklow compared to 895,149 in Leinster and 1,649,408 nationally.
Wicklow has an above average rate of home ownership according to the CSO figures with the Garden County having a rate of 71.6 per cent. This compares favourably to Leinster (65.6 percent) and nationally (67.6 per cent).
There are a total of 12,833 households in rented accommodation in Wicklow while in Leinster there are 285,423 households renting and nationally there are 497,111 households. The percentage of households living in rented accommodation in Wicklow is 26.2 per cent which again compares favourably with the national average of 29.3 per cent.
Fewer people in Wicklow have a mortgage or loan in 2016 compared to 2011 according to the figures. This is in keeping with the national trend.
In 2016, 17,790 households in Wicklow hold a mortgage or loan compared to 19,234 in 2011. Nationally 535,675 households had a mortgage or loan in 2016 compared to 583,148 in 2011.
The figures show that there were 4,170 apartments in Wicklow in 2016 which represents 8.5 per cent of occupied households within the county. This is lower than the national average which is an apartment occupancy rate of 11.8 per cent. However it is higher than the Leinster average of 7.3 per cent.
There was an increase in rents for both local authority homes and private dwellings in Wicklow in 2016 with the average local authority rent standing at €62.43, an increase of €11.28 on the 2011 figures. The average national local authority rent was €68.50 in 2016.
Private rents also rose, increasing from €183.61 in 2011 to €207.48 in 2016. The average national private rent was €199.92 in 2016.
For the purpose of Census 2016 the housing stock is defined as the total number of permanent residential dwellings that were available for occupancy at the time of census enumeration. In this report, the housing stock consists of permanent private households (inhabited by both usual residents and visitors), holiday homes, vacant houses or apartments, along with dwellings where all the occupants were temporarily absent on Census night. However, communal establishments, temporary private households (e.g. caravans and mobile homes), along with dwellings categorised by the enumerators as being derelict or under construction are excluded from this definition.
In identifying vacant dwellings, enumerators were instructed to look for signs that the dwelling was not occupied and to find out from neighbours whether it was vacant or not. Similar precautions were also taken before classifying holiday homes.
Dwellings under construction and derelict properties were not included in the count of vacant dwellings.
Deirdre Cullen, Senior Statistician, said: ‘In recognition of the demand from users, and society in general, for a better understanding of housing in Ireland, the Central Statistics Office has prioritised the housing release as its first thematic report from Census 2016. We believe this report provides a clear picture of some of the main developments in the Irish housing landscape over the past five years, including new analysis of vacant properties, such as type of dwelling and distance to the nearest town.’.
Profile 1 Housing in Ireland is the first of eleven profile reports that will be produced from Census 2016.