Short-term letting is ‘a hand grenade exploding’ in a ‘non-functioning’ housing market
The emergence of short-term holiday letting in many rural communities has made it almost impossible for young local people to continue to live in their own area, a west of Ireland councillor has warned.
More than 1,100 properties in Kilkee in west Clare were unoccupied holiday homes on the night of the 2022 Census, or 65pc of all houses in the area.
Kilkee native and Clare county councillor Cillian Murphy (FF) says unregulated short-term letting has been like a “hand grenade exploding” in a “clearly non-functioning” housing market.
He says once-vibrant villages are being transformed into ghost towns for much of the year as many locals cannot compete with outside investors.
“Who can afford to buy these houses?” he says. “It’s the person who already has money in their pocket. We have a farming and coastal community here, with families working two or three jobs, and they can afford the house at €160,000, but when the price is driven above that [by investors] they can’t afford it.
“We have a clearly non-functioning housing market in this country and into that mix we have put a completely non-regulated entity into the system. It is like a hand grenade exploding in the middle of it.”
Similar occupancy figures were recorded in towns and villages across the west coast, with unoccupied holiday homes accounting for 53.6pc of the total housing stock in Liscannor and 49.5pc in Lahinch.
Councillor Murphy believes that steps must be taken to manage the development of housing in rural communities, including the proper registration of short-term lets and holiday homes, controls through the planning system and regulation of the property market.
“Everything that comes on the market now, whether it be a permanently occupied house or a holiday home, is being view through the lens of short-term lets,” he says.
“Realistically you can probably return €20,000 a season [as a shortterm let] and that is a major return on your money, asset backed.
“We don’t know who owns these properties and how much of the value in this is being exported out of our communities. People come and spend money in our shops and pubs, but we don’t know how much, we don’t know what the value is.
“If they weren’t all holiday homes, if they weren’t short-term lets, they might be occupied for 12 months and not just for six weeks.
“This is skewing the market right down the west coast. I have colleagues in west Cork, Kerry, Mayo and Sligo and they are seeing the exact same thing.”
West Clare resident Joe Woulfe (chair of the Beef Plan Movement in Clare) says the fabric of rural life is being changes by the increase in short-term lets and holiday homes.
“In areas close by me, I would say that every second house is unoccupied,” he says. “That can be a bit lonely. You’re walking past houses and you know there is no-one living in them.
“It is quite difficult for a local person here to purchase a house. If you look at houses from Spanish Point right down the west coast to Kilrush, you are looking at spending €250,000 to €350,000 for a house, and that is beyond most people.
“Tourism hotspots put up the value of property and you have no choice but to pay for them. Living on the west coast of Clare might put €100,000 extra onto the price of a house, compared to elsewhere in the county. And it is also very tricky to get planning permission, even as a local.”