Is Ireland's housing crisis a myth?
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:17 pm
We're bombarded by the media, politicians and talking heads telling us we have a chronic housing crisis because we simply don't have enough houses.
But if you had never read an article, or heard an interview on the subject, and just looked at the plain numbers you'd think we have plenty of houses:
In the EU in 2019, 17.2 % of the population were living an overcrowded home. In Ireland it is 3.2%
In the EU in 2019, a third of the population (33 %) lived in an under-occupied home - ie too big for their needs. In Ireland, 69.6% of people live in an under-occupied home.
We have one of the largest number of rooms per person - Ireland 2.1 vs EU average 1.6 - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/dig ... ml?lang=en
According to the 2016 Census we have a national vacancy rate of about 9%. In parts of Dublin it is well over 10%. In a healthy market you'd expect a rate of about 6%, in crisis stricken market you'd expect it to be more like 3%.
So if our houses that are actually occupied, are way below average in the overcrowding stakes, and way above average in the under occupied stakes, and the rest of the houses are empty, how can we have a shortage of houses?
The numbers to back up a shortage of houses simply don't exist.
But if you had never read an article, or heard an interview on the subject, and just looked at the plain numbers you'd think we have plenty of houses:
In the EU in 2019, 17.2 % of the population were living an overcrowded home. In Ireland it is 3.2%
In the EU in 2019, a third of the population (33 %) lived in an under-occupied home - ie too big for their needs. In Ireland, 69.6% of people live in an under-occupied home.
We have one of the largest number of rooms per person - Ireland 2.1 vs EU average 1.6 - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/dig ... ml?lang=en
According to the 2016 Census we have a national vacancy rate of about 9%. In parts of Dublin it is well over 10%. In a healthy market you'd expect a rate of about 6%, in crisis stricken market you'd expect it to be more like 3%.
So if our houses that are actually occupied, are way below average in the overcrowding stakes, and way above average in the under occupied stakes, and the rest of the houses are empty, how can we have a shortage of houses?
The numbers to back up a shortage of houses simply don't exist.